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Comprehensive sexuality education was first introduced in the year 2000 within the subjects of Life Orientation and Life Skills to teach Learners on sex, sexuality, gender, their bodies, consent and relationships. This was also to help clear confusion learners might have had about sex and clear misleading information on the topic.
Sex Education is taught as early as the ages of 6-8 years in South Africa. This proves that learners are given information that would not be too overwhelming for minors and as they grow older, teachers go into more detail about safe sex practices to educate curious and sometimes already sexually active children.
The foundation on safe sex is layered for learners but where do we go wrong and end up with such high numbers of teenage pregnancy?
Statistics South Africa reported that about 34 000 teenage pregnancies were recorded during the year 2020 with 660 of those being girls under the age of 13 years.
Teenage pregnancy increased by a shocking 60% during covid-19- under the care of their guardians and parents.
Sex Education is as important as science and maths and yet, as the years progress, it is neglected in most schools. Teachers reported that parents complained that sex education encouraged their young ones to be sexually active while others relied on teachers to teach their children about safe sex as it was a sensitive topic for some parents to talk about to their children.
In schools after the complaints, teachers started censoring words and focused more and mainly on HIV and abstinence. With the focus on just the two, it left a gap and made safe sex and birth control subtopics that did not get enough attention.
This led to miscommunication and created room for lack of understanding what safe sex is- which in turn birthed the opportunity for television shows, social media and hearsay to be given a platform to “teach” teenagers. This has only resulted in teenagers displaying ignorance to engage in unsafe sex practices and not go for birth control, amongst other issues.
Often teachers and the government get blamed for not doing enough by teaching these teenagers on what safe sex is and birth control. Most parents leave it up to teachers and the programs government has in schools to teach their children.
South Africa is one country that is still rooted in cultural practices and sometimes, unfortunately, these cultural practices prohibit sex talks until one is ready for marriage.
Most African parents have adopted the parenting styles and techniques of their elders and their parents to shy away from any sex related topics as it was believed it encouraged one to start having sex. This has in turn produced negligent guardians and parents and misinformed teenagers. These teenagers are not taught right from wrong at home but rather from their peers and the shows that they watch.
These teenage pregnancies are usually unwanted, unplanned and unintentional and they turn to unsafe abortions because fear and judgement from nurses, their parents and the community as a whole.
Speaking to teenagers and teenage parents in the area of Scenery Park, East London, 3 out of 5 mentioned that it would be better if the government had mobile clinics visit their high schools and had birth control brought to their place of comfort rather than clinics where they risk a chance of being seen by someone that knows their parents and face judgemental eyes and remarks.
The talk or idea of the government getting schools, teachers, parents and the learners on board about introducing mobile clinics at schools to bring forward and encourage learners to be on birth control and practice safe sex should be a suggestion that is looked into.
This could possibly help minimize unwanted teenage pregnancies, lessen chances of teenagers getting STIs/STDs and HIV/AIDS, remove the fear of nurses from their neighbourhoods judging the teenagers that do go get birth control and help keep a girl child in school as teenage pregnancy could potentially lead to one dropping out of school to raise her baby.
It would also help parents ease into being able to actively participate in their child’s life, bring forward conversations around safe sex practices and birth control. It would help all parties involved to play active roles in each other’s lives and help decrease chances of teenage girls being exposed to being single parents because males, as young as 16, tend to deny their children as well.
This would save many lives and create better futures for the future generations.
