Possible solutions to teen pregnancies

Helmut Kayavela writes: I am commenting on an article that appeared in one of the daily newspapers on the July 22, 2014 headlined ‘Close to 90 Erongo schoolgirls pregnant’. This scenario is not only common in Erongo Region but it is prevalent in most of our schools across the country, mostly government schools. Every problem has a solution and the solutions that I would like to propose are based on biblical and social perspectives. God Almighty created a human being in His likeness and He wants human beings to think, behave, walk, talk in accordance with His principles that are enshrined in the constitution that is above all constitutions, the Bible. When a human being replaces something of God with something that does not concern Him, the man perishes (Hosea 4:6).Our leaders have replaced the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of God in schools with the knowledge of human beings .Psalm 111:10 made it clear. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…Wisdom of God is to know what God says about you, knowledge of God is to put in practice what God says about you and understanding of God is to know how to put in practice what God says about you. These three segments (wisdom, knowledge and understanding of God) in a human being bring morals in a person. We need the fear of the Lord to be taught to learners in schools for them to know that sex is not wrong, but it must be practised in marriage only. A Life Skills program like ‘My Future is My Choice’ is good, but it is a toothless lion to some extent. A person is not supposed to be a custodian of his/her future. The Bible laments in Jeremiah 29: 10 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God is the one who knows our futures, not ourselves. The moment learners hearken only to life skills of a human being, not of God, moral decay will be a result and premature sex is part of it. Apart from that, ‘My Future is My Choice’ must be kept, however, it must not be perceived as the shaping tool of school learners regarding right sexual morals. The biblical teachings must be brought back in schools even thought we are living in a secular state. Unam must produce pastors to teach the Bible in schools directly if the government is finding it difficult. Laws are created by people and they are prone to change. In the Namibian Sun of Friday, January 10, 2014, some of our prominent leaders were quoted as defending Christianity vehemently, in the article headlined ‘State unrepentant about Christian bias’. Some assumed in the article that all members of parliament are Christians and that is the reason they read the Bible and pray before every session. Most government schools and some private schools are dominated by Christian educators and learners. Why waste time to offer religious study as a subject in schools, which is confusing in nature because it is a mixture of religions? If 99.9% or 100% of a school is composed of Christians, why teach other religions? There are more than six thousand religions in the world today. All of them claim to represent the truth, but interestingly, some of these religions do not even have ultimate founders. Christianity is not a religion, but is a relationship with God. Last but not least, parents must raise their children in the right direction. Moral teachings must start right at home. The best teacher of a child is not a school teacher, but fathers, mothers and guardians of children. It is an unfortunate circumstance that there so many bars and cuca shops in our nation where alcohol is easily accessible to most parents. Most parents are failing their children by spending too much drinking rather than taking care of their children. Leaders in education must do something about this matter of skyrocketing pregnancy in schools. I propose Bible lessons to be reintroduced in schools. The Ministry of Education has been too lenient with this issue of pregnancy in schools. Stiff rules must be in place to prevent pregnancy in schools. The current pregnancy policy is widening the problem, rather than solving it. Schools must not be maternity wards and teachers are not trained as nurses or doctors to deal with pregnant learners. Alcohol must be limited in our nation! We need a solution urgently. The nation is sinking in a sea of moral decay.