Instead of using condoms to protect themselves, some pupils were extracting the lubricant to polish shoes and to condition their hair, leaving teachers worried that the province’s teenage pregnancy figures would not be managed, reports the Weekend Argus.
Evonne Jantjies, a Life Orientation teacher at Mount View Secondary School in Hanover Park, says pupils simply “played” with condoms at schools.
“We have even heard that girls crush birth control tablets and mix them with hair conditioner because it makes their hair shinier,” said Jantjies.
While the school had no control over pupils’ sexual activities, they emphasised the importance of abstinence.
“The prevention message is dealt with in Grades 8 and 9 and it is hoped that by the time they reach Grade 10 they should have a thorough understanding of how not to fall pregnant,” said Jantjies.
Mount View Secondary has 743 pupils, of whom five are known to be pregnant.
Last week the Department of Education gazetted the Integrated Schools Health Policy which made provision for making male and female condoms available to pupils.
But Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Paddy Attwell said it would still be up to each school’s governing body to decide whether to provide condoms or not.
Attwell adds public schools in the Western Cape had reported a decline in pupil pregnancies over the past three years, from 2880 in 2015 to 2140 this year.