Abstract:
Learner pregnancy is a worldwide problem. There are many consequences associated with learner pregnancy such as restriction in educational opportunities, reduction of quality of life, exposure to sexually transmitted infections, social discrimination and complicated labor and abortions. Regardless of the effort made by the government of the Republic of Namibia and other non-governmental organizations to prevent learner pregnancy among learners, learners still get pregnant. The guidelines of the “School policy on learner pregnancy in Namibia: Background to reform (MBESC,1994) has been implemented in schools since 1994, yet many learners continue to fall pregnant every year, become young mothers and fail to complete their school career (Ministry of Education,1994). However, this study focussed on the implementation of the Education Sector Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy (MoE, 2012). This study investigated how teachers and parents perceive the implementation of the Education Sector Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy. A qualitative research design was used to gain more understanding of teachers and parents’ perceptions of the implementation of the Education Sector Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy. The target population for this study was teachers and parents of pregnant learners and or learner - parents in secondary schools in Oshigambo Inspection Circuit. The sample comprised of 24 participants from six purposefully selected secondary schools in Oshigambo Inspection Circuit. The six secondary schools, which were selected based on criterion one, which is that the school should have either high or low learner pregnancy. The term “school with high learner pregnancy rate” refers to schools which have annually recorded five or more cases of learner pregnancies. The term “schools with low rate of learner pregnancies” refers to schools which have annually recorded three or less cases of learner pregnancies. Data were gathered using documents analysis and standardized open-ended interview questions. The data were inductively analysed.
The findings highlighted the need for a combined effort to be put in place, which would address pregnant learners and or learner - parents’ problems at home and at school. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education should revisit the Policy to address issues such as the dress code, walking distance of pregnant learners, accommodation and health. It is also recommended that the Ministry of Education should establish an educational program that provides teaching-learning support to pregnant learners and or learner - parents. Finally, the findings revealed the awareness of the problems teachers and parents in Oshigambo Inspection Circuit in Oshikoto political region experience in implementing the provisions of the Policy and these findings will hopefully be benchmarks when developing ways and strategies to address similar problems elsewhere.
