Maternity Leave for Schoolgirls

What next? Paternity leave for the father?

 

Maternity leave for schoolgirls was one of the proposals made at a Teenage Pregnancy Summit in KwaZulu-Natal last week. This is supposed to support the mother without hindering her education.

 

OK, this is all very noble and all, but I think it's time for South Africa to wake up, and start letting people experience the consequences of their actions. We have become way to soft and politically correct, and oh so afraid of offending someone, because maybe it's "unconstitutional". I searched Google on this subject, and it looks like South Africa is about the only place on the planet daft enough to entertain the idea of maternity leave for schoolgirls.

 

Back in the day, if a schoolgirl got pregnant, she had to leave school before she started showing, and could only come back after the baby was born, and had to repeat the same standard again. Harsh it was, but there were very few pregnancies - and the other kids learned from the lesson too.

 

As far as I'm concerned, if the child is old enough to do "adult things", then they should be prepared to accept "adult responsibilities" and "adult consequences".

 

While the girl is away from school there are other education alternatives - home schooling or correspondence study. If that doesn't pan out, there is always the alternative of postponing her education for a year or two.

 

Unfortunately, it's the mother that has to bear the brunt of the consequences - the boy who got her pregnant in the first place most likely gets away with very few consequences. It shouldn't be so, but such is life. Life is not fair - deal with it!

 

All this is though indicates a much deeper problem ... parents are not giving their kids moral guidance. Moral guidance has nothing to do with class, race, gender, or financial means - everyone can participate. It is NOT the school's job to provide moral guidance. That job was, is, and always will be the responsibility of the parents.

 

Many parents are unaware of their children's academic progress. For schools to help parents become a bit more aware of how their children are doing at school, why not check out the School Report Services web site at www.SchoolReportServices.com