30 Mar 2022

Teenage pregnancy is said to be one of societal ills bedeviling Sese village, mainly due to lack of parental discipline.

This came to light during the handing over of an anti-teenage pregnancy information board by Kanye Seventh Day Adventist College of Nursing students yesterday.

 Most speakers pointed a finger at parents’ reluctance to rebuke their children as a major contributory factor to the problem.

One of them, a student, Ms Thato Mmutle said police had also expressed concern about parents failure to discipline their children.

“Children could be reported missing from homes after about two days and when parents were asked why they took that long to report, they will indicate that the children were impossible and never listen,” she said quoting police.

Ms Mmutle said in one of the community discussions, parents complained about the existence of too many shebeens in the village which they said  led to alcohol abuse by teenagers and consequently pregnancies.

She said according to their findings, most teenagers in the village were impregnated by villagers rather than employees of Jwaneng-based companies as was commonly believed.

Her words were corroborated by Sub Inspector Kenayamang Sephiri, who labelled Sese a hot spot for crime in general.

“Criminal activities such as murder, house break-ins and assaults are rife here, including teenage pregnancy itself. Teenagers get pregnant as young as 14 years, and it has become a norm that teenagers can freely engage in love affairs at that age,” she said.

Sub-Inspector Sephiri called on parents to revive the tried and tested cultural arrangement of engaging relatives such as uncles and grandparents to help discipline children.

“Culturally we know that uncles were the first stop in instances when a teenager became delinquent, but nowadays parents bypass them straight to the police,” she said.

She said it was disturbing that while most parents were aware of their children’s involvement in love affairs, they turned a blind eye especially when the boyfriend provided for the family and only reported a pregnancy.

“Most of the time parents report when it is too late, probably just to wash their hands off the matter because they would be aware that law enforcement would get wind of the issue,” she said. 

Sub-Inspector Sephiri said even then, some parents would still be too stubborn to report citing an incident in which a parent became enraged after a neighbour reported such a matter to the police.

Another student, Ms Nthabiseng Mokgobi explained that her group’s attachment to Sese Clinic was partly the result of a community study which entailed coming up with possible solutions for the challenges they observed.

“It was during such a study that we discovered teenage pregnancy was rife in the village, hence our decision to hand over the information board. We have also held talks with standard four to six students as a way of creating awareness. That was on top of donating sanitary pads to them,” she said.

Ms Mokgobi implored parents to keep engaging their children about teenage pregnancy as it remained an issue of great concern.

For her part, a lecturer from the college, Ms Lorato Masedi expressed appreciation for the support the Sese community always extended to the students.

 Practical experience gained from attachments was valuable as it gave students a chance to put theory into practice, said Ms Masedi. Ends