THE high number of teenage pregnancies in our district is a clear testimony that school girls are indulging in sexual activities without protection.
Whether they are doing this with school boys or with ‘blessers‘ is another story, but the bottom line is that they are putting their lives at risk.
This was the feeling of the Department of Education, uThungulu District Director, David Chonco.
Speaking at the District Prayer held last week at Dlangezwa High School, Chonco said it was difficult to teach learners who had ‘turned into parents’ all of a sudden.
‘We are faced with a situation of having school girls who begin their day, dropping their children off at day care centres before coming to school, which results in late arrival at schools.
It all boils down to a lack of discipline. Teaching such pupils is a huge challenge for teachers, because the young women barely concentrate on their school work, thinking about their kids who are at pre-school.’
Outlining the purpose of the prayer Chonco said it was imperative to ask for divine intervention in the crisis facing the Department of Education, and also to pray for learners who will be writing their matric examinations.
‘We are a few weeks away from beginning our first paper, which will be written on 24 October. We are praying for a clean and smooth examination, which is scandal free. We have a duty to turn around our district in terms of matric performance.
‘We committed ourselves earlier in the year to do everything in our power to remedy the situation. We have never before performed so poorly in the matric exam results.
‘We are mindful that this has not been a smooth year either, as we experienced school violence, class disruptions, uprising of learners against educators, death of learners as well as shooting and stabbing incidences,’ he said.
Pastor Sibusiso Mkhwanazi of the Baptist Church, who led the sermon said most of the challenges the country faces were largely due to people’s failure to listen to the word of God.
‘The country is on fire because God is angry with us, for not listening to Him. We need to call Him today, He will answer us because we are His people. We have a listening God,’ added Mkhwanazi who was joined by other church leaders from different ministers’ fraternals.
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