36 pregnancies at Vhembe schools

The department made the shocking discovery during a campaign to address school health.

Spokesperson Neil Shikhwambana says a total of 36 learners are expectant. 

"The age group that we are talking about is between 9 -18 years. What we should appreciate is that 33 learners are coming from the same school, while others are from other schools. We are talking about primary and high school learners.”

The department says 17% of women giving birth at public health facilities are under the age of 18. 

"This time around we had to zoom into that areas because our stats indicate that almost 17% of women that give birth in our public facilities in that area are girls between the ages of 10 and 18.

 "We thought this is a challenge because these numbers are not your normal figures. Hence we had to zoom into the area to look at the socio-economic issues that might be behind all these issues.

"Talk to learners talk to parents and all stakeholders involved so that we are able to deal with this challenge is a holistic manner.”

Some of the learners who fell pregnant also contracted HIV.

Shikhwambana could not confirm the number of HIV positive pupils.