South African school blames sugar daddies after 27 pupils got pregnant

Sugar daddies have been blamed after 27 pupils in one South African secondary school were confirmed pregnant.

Some pupils at a Limpopo school blamed sugar daddies for being responsible for about 30 pregnant girls at their school this year alone.

This was after it was revealed there are 27 pregnant girls in Grades 10, 11 and 12 at Molautsi Secondary School in Blood River just outside Seshego, South Africa.

According to The Sowetan, which saw at least six pregnant girls during a visit to the school on Thursday. The girls refused to be interviewed.

However, according to a Grade 11 pupil, older men were responsible for impregnating some of her friends. The pupil said;

They say they don’t want to be broke; these men give them money. Some of these men have multiple girlfriends around the area.

Another pupil, who is in Grade 12, said;

When we are at the taverns there will always be older guys coming and entertaining us. But, at the end is how you respond to them. I have seen friends getting free alcohol from guys who are employed and older. We call them blessers,

Limpopo education department spokesman Sam Makondo, who confirmed that 27 pupils at the school are pregnant, said that the situation was becoming a big concern. Makondo said;

We think it should worry all of us as a society that our children fall pregnant at this rate, It says to us we should, as various stakeholders in education, take a collective responsibility to raise more awareness inside and outside our schools to prevent more learners from [being in] this situation.

Together we can make the necessary impact and our learners will be able to stay in school and focus on their studies. Education is a constitutional right we must all protect. This should be everybody’s concern.

Makondo said the figure of pupils who fell pregnant last year at the school was not immediately available but he believed it was lower compared to this year. He added;

If it was more than 20 pupils who fell pregnant it would have raised alarm and came to our attention. Our district offices would have picked it up immediately [because] they meet regularly with school principals.