Pretoria - Barring a pupil from school on the grounds of pregnancy is discriminatory, a judge has said.
Armed with this judgment, a Grade 12 pupil was able to start writing her exams at the same technical high school in KwaZulu-Natal that had expelled her when she disclosed that she was pregnant.
Section27, which assisted her in a legal bid to force the principal of the school and the KwaZulu-Natal department of education to allow her to write her exams at the school, said it was told that her expulsion in July was in terms of the school’s pregnancy policy.
Attorney in the Education Rights Programme at Section27, Zeenat Sujee, wrote a letter of demand to the school and the education authorities on behalf of the pupil and her parents.
The pupil was also told her expulsion was in terms of school pregnancy policy.
“We are aware there a few other learners that have similarly been expelled for being pregnant.
“We are still securing instructions from these learners and their families,” Sujee said.
In the letter to the eduction authorities, she pointed out that the national policy on the prevention and management of pupil pregnancy stated expressly that barring a pupil from school on the grounds of pregnancy was discriminatory.
In terms of the policy, schools are required to take all necessary steps to reasonably accommodate the pupil to facilitate her continuing education.
Sujee pointed to a Constitutional Court judgment in which it was held that the expulsion of pregnant pupils from schools is a prima facie violation of their rights to a basic education, equality and dignity.
In a similar case it was held that barring a matric pupil from writing his or her final exam was a violation of their rights to a basic education.
The court in that case said: “Access to a school is a necessary condition for the achievement of the right to education”.
It said access to an exam, especially one integral to completing schooling, was another important component for achievement of this right.
In her letter of demand, Sujee said based on the Constitutional Court judgment, no pupil should be excluded from writing a matric exam.
“The refusal to allow the learner to write a matric exam because of pregnancy discrimination is even more egregious and unambiguously unconstitutional.”
She said the pregnancy policy of the school and its decision to expel her on the grounds of pregnancy, infringes on her rights and those of other pupils in a similar situation.
Section27 demanded the school governing body review its pregnancy policy in accordance with recent policy developments and Constitutional Court jurisprudence.
The matter was meanwhile settled before it headed to court after the department provided an undertaking to allow the pupil to write the exam and to set aside the school’s pregnancy policy with immediate effect.
The pupil is writing her exams at another centre.
Sujee told the Pretoria News the objective of national policy on the prevention of and management of pupil pregnancy was to ensure that pregnant pupils were retained and allowed to return to their appropriate grades in school.
It provides for pregnant pupils to continue and complete their basic education without stigma or discrimination.
For its part, the school was required to accommodate the reasonable needs of the pupil to ensure that her right to education was not disrupted, Sujee said.
Thus schools must allow the pregnant pupil to remain in school during and after pregnancy. In terms of the policy, pupils who are over six months pregnant will be required to submit a medical certificate indicating the status of their pregnancy and estimated delivery date.
The pregnant pupil will also be asked to provide medical reports to her appointed teacher or principal certifying it is safe for her to continue schooling if she wishes to stay in school beyond eight months of pregnancy.
Pretoria News