Teen pregnancies deflate Bobonong exam results
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday April 22, 2015 13:52
At a meeting on Friday, called by parents into the performances at the school, Matshekge school head Babuluki Bajiti revealed that 11 cases of pregnancy had been registered between January and March this year alone.
In 2013, the school recorded 34 and in 2014 it had 32.
“We have started to engage dikgosi and other people to help in mentoring their children,” he said.
Bajiti added that the school also had a problem with drugs and have engaged a nurse in the school to mentor and talk to students about teenage matters.
Parents have requested that a team be formed to investigate the cause of poor performance at Matshekge Hill and seven junior schools.
Bobonong MP and Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Shaw Kgathi concurred with some parents that on the whole, primary school leaving examination results are reasonably satisfactory, but those at junior and senior secondary are not.
“I have over the years been encouraging and working with the school leadership and encouraging the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) to contribute meaningfully to the education of their children.
A major challenge and concern with respect to education in the area is the continuing pattern and trend of poor results at our junior and senior schools,” Kgathi said.
He said that for instance, in the 2014-2015 examination results, only 19.07 percent had five credits and above while at the junior schools, only 8.07 percent managed to pass with merit, an A or B.
Kgathi said teachers and parents are the ones who could explain why education standards had gone down in Bobirwa.
He said the fact that most of the time, some teenagers are left with grandparents while their parents are in towns contributes to pregnancies at Matshekge Hill School.