While the education system’s response to teenage pregnancy has been to ensure pregnant teenagers attend school before and after childbirth, the criminal justice system has set grounds for civil and criminal proceedings for fathers who impregnate girls under the age of 16. However, both the education and criminal justice systems remain silent about the occurrence and approaches towards child pregnancies (i.e., pregnancies which occur amongst children below the ages of 12 years-old).The paper first reports on the (1) prevalence of child pregnancies in South Africa, the (2) prevailing discourses around child pregnancies, as well as (3) suggested recommendations by intergovernmental agencies of how the education and criminal justice system can respond to this increasing trend. Data mining from local and international literature and governmental organizations (e.g., Statistics South Africa, the World Health Organization, United Nations, just to mention a few) were consulted to find out the estimation of child pregnancies globally and in South Africa. Four national school and criminal-related policies were also examined for their responses, while findings were analyzed via Foucault’s pedagogization of children’s sexuality theory. the findings reveal that child pregnancies remain a silent phenomenon due to the false notion that children are incapable of childbearing, a myth which further exacerbates their risk of early pregnancy. Recommendations in policy implementation are outlined to respond to the growing rates of child pregnancies.

Authors:
Obakeng Kagola, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa
Lindokuhle Ubisi, University of South Africa, South Africa

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Obakeng Kagola, a Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the Faculty of Education, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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