“We don't want any learner to fall pregnant, and as a learner all you should do is to read your books. Sleep with your books and stop sleeping with boys.” These were the words of advice from the MEC for Health, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, when addressing the learners of Mukhwantheli Secondary School a fortnight ago.

MEC Ramathuba “adopted” the school in October 2018 after it started making the headlines for the wrong reasons. At that stage, more than 30 girls in the school were reported to be pregnant.Since the adoption by the MEC, the school has shown a big drop in teenage pregnancies and a huge improvement in academic performance.

“If you engage yourself in sexual activities, it will affect your academic performance and many of you don’t know anything about sex but persist in doing it. You will get sexually transmitted infections and fall pregnant at a young age. Some of you do abortions at unqualified ‘doctors’, which leads to death. I advise you to stop doing illegal abortions,” MEC Ramathuba said.

The MEC also used the opportunity to motivate Grade 12 learners to study for their upcoming exams. “Stop attending gigs and study hard for your exams,” the MEC said.