Teen pregnancy & HIV: Should children receive more in-depth sexuality education?
Within the first quarter of 2021, around 1,053 girls aged 10 to 14 fell pregnant.
You will never be able to control the actions of others but with the right education, you can help people make more informed decisions.
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Unfortunately, there are many issues with education systems all across the world. Especially in South Africa.
One of the main subjects where the system seems to be severely failing the South African youth is sexuality education.
Parents are not having these conversations with their kids. Children are not being exposed to these topics from people in their lives, which is why we need to step up as government.
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But how does this affect the youth?
DBE deputy director-general Dr Granville Whittle recently revealed that 1,300 adolescent girls and young women in South Africa are infected with HIV weekly.
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Along with this harrowing news, a report by Save The Children also stated that the number of teen pregnancies in Gauteng have gone up with 60% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now in an attempt to curb these stats the DBE has pledged to intensify the implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in public schools.
This situation requires us all to work together because we deal with the impact of what has taken place outside of schools. What we would like to see in the coming years is a zero pregnancy rate among our teenage girls, where a child is allowed to be a child until she completes her schooling. Our teenagers need to grow up to receive their education and focus on other aspects of life.
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Stacey and J Sbu decided to have a conversation and find out what KZN had to say on the topic:
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Main image courtesy of iStock/Alexmia