Regulations to ensure pregnant pupils stay in schools.
Image: IAN LANDSBERG/FILE
PRINCIPALS and teachers will have to play a significant role to ensure that schooling careers of young girls are not derailed by falling pregnant.
A set of draft regulations that were put forward by the Department of Basic Education and released recently are out for public comment. The regulations highlight the role that must be played by the school and the extensive responsibilities of the school principal.
Key intentions of the regulations are to support learners to remain in school during pregnancy and to return to school after childbirth, without being subjected to suspension, expulsion, or any punitive action based solely on pregnancy.
The regulations aim to ensure schools provide non-judgemental and non-discriminatory support for learners during pregnancy and following childbirth, protecting their physical and psychological health and dignity. It intends to ensure that learners are permitted to attend antenatal care, post-natal care, and receive psychological support services through collaboration with social and health sector partners and non-governmental organisations.
The draft regulations detail the support that will be required to assist learners, from the Department of Basic Education district level all the way down to the school level.
At the District Level there must be a support team that will take reasonable measures to protect the rights of learners to basic education, advising on alternative methods for accommodating learners during pregnancy and after childbirth. This team will lead and oversee the process of managing learner pregnancy by mobilising resources and supporting schools to enable access to professional advice, referral, and support.
At the school level, the regulations state that each school must have a school-based support team for pregnant learners, which will coordinate a multi-sectoral response (with other departments).
The regulations state that principals are required to record details of pregnant learners in compliance with laws governing the protection of personal information, report on the retention of learners during pregnancy, and ensure their return to school after childbirth.
The draft regulations further state that the principal must refer all pregnant learners to the Department of Social Development or to a social worker from a child service organisation for further assistance.
Principals must also refer the learner to the clinic for antenatal care, and the social worker or the Department of Social Development must submit a report to the principal advising on the assessment.
“The school-based support team must ensure that all formative assessments and tasks, including classwork, homework, and assignments, are packaged and made available to the learner for studying and practice purposes.
“A learner must be informed in writing of the dates when the formal assessment tasks, including controlled tests and examinations, are to be administered in the subjects for which the learner is enrolled,” the draft regulations state.
"A learner must write examinations and be assessed in the same examination assessment room as other learners unless a medical note advises otherwise, in which case necessary arrangements and assistance must be provided."
For learners between grades 4 and 11 who are unable to write or complete the end-of-year final examination and who have provided the school with a medical report justifying the leave of absence, they must obtain a mark based on their school-based assessments and practical assessment marks.
The regulations state that a principal may not de-register a learner because they are pregnant and called on the school to ensure that there is a support plan for the individual learners that are pregnant that has been worked on in conjunction with the learner and the parent or guardian.
Social justice activist Hendrick Makaneta said that before these draft regulations, there had not been clear policy guidelines on how schools should conduct themselves in relation to pregnant learners.
He noted that the regulation “in one way, places additional strain on teachers who are trained to deal mainly with issues of the curriculum and not healthcare matters. There should be greater collaboration between the schools and the Health Department.”
Cape Times