Being pregnant and a young parent in South African schools is not easy. Books and Babies examines why this is the case.

El presente informe examina los factores asociados con el embarazo adolescente y la maternidad temprana y crea un marco para explorar estos temas de forma sistemática hacia el diseño de intervenciones efectivas en el marco de políticas en América L atina.

Women in South Africa have had fewer children on average since the 1970s, but the rate of teenage childbearing in South Africa has remained the same.

Background: Adolescent pregnancy, occurring in girls aged 10–19 years, remains a serious health and social problem worldwide, and has been associated with numerous risk factors evident in the young people’s family, peer, school, and neighbourhood contexts.

Post-apartheid, South Africa democratised access to education as enshrined in the country’s Constitutional Bill of Rights of 1996.

This report begins with a situation analysis of adolescent pregnancy (Section 2), highlighting where today’s adolescents live and where their fertility levels are highest, as well as looking at the drivers of their fertility rates.

Education is a vital component of the preparation for adulthood, and is closely linked to transitions into marriage and parenting. Childbearing among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa remains high, while primary school completion is far from universal.

This report contains results of the survey conducted to establish views of the various stakeholders on the question of re-entry of pregnant girls in schools.

This study evaluated efforts of secondary schools to prevent unintended pregnancy among students and their reactions to pregnant students before and after delivery. A cross-sectional survey of 46 teachers in three public and two private schools in Anambra state, Nigeria was carried out.

The re-entry policy launched in 1997 advocates that girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy should be readmitted after giving birth.