27 Students Pregnant For ‘Sugar Daddies’ In South Africa

No fewer than 27 students of a secondary school have been confirmed to be pregnant for older men who are not their husbands, known as Sugar Daddies near Polokwane in South Africa.
Report by the Limpopo education department said that the students blamed “blessers” (sugar daddies) for being responsible for about 30 pregnant girls at their school so far this year.
The report said that furteen of the pregnant students are from Molautsi Secondary School.
Department spokesman, Sam Makondo said that the high rate of pregnancies was worrying, adding: “it says to us that we should‚ all of us as various stakeholders in education‚ take a collective responsibility to raise more awareness inside and outside our schools to prevent more learners from this situation.
“We think together we can make the necessary impact and our learners will be able to stay in school‚ focusing on their education and nothing else.”
In an interview with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)‚ one of the pregnant pupils‚ who spoke on a condition of anonymity‚ said she was aware of the consequences of unprotected sex. She asserted that falling pregnant had not affected her studies.
“I have passed my mid-year exams… I was taught about issues of (sex) education at school. I knew everything – I just decided not to prevent. My mom took me to the clinic to prevent and then I decided to do it my own way‚” she said.
The school’s deputy principal‚ Joseph Phaleng‚ said a lack of parental guidance and substance abuse contributed to the rate of teen pregnancy.