I read an article earlier this year on News 24 .It literally broke my jaws. I was shocked to find myself picturing a ten year old girl pregnant. I could almost see myself swearing at her new-born baby nine months later.

I find it absurd that a child as young as this can be allowed to bring a baby in the world. As society likes to put it “a baby is a gift from god.” But to me such babies are not so innocent. They come from a cruel lesson not taught in schools but in bedrooms.

Teachers barely scratch the surface when they bring out the issue of sex in the classrooms. They do not dig deep enough to tackle sex education head on. So kids end up behind closed doors engaging in adult behaviour.

Would teaching teenagers about sex in schools prevent them from engaging in it? Probably not. But I believe that it will help us mitigate some of the negative effects kids are forced to deal with after stumbling into early intimacy such as teenage pregnancy and HIV to name a few. I do acknowledge that a lot of learners or young kids are faced with social obstacles such as child abuse and sexual violence in their communities. Hence many of them end up being tangled up in unwanted pregnancies.

According to News 24, between April 2020 to March 2021 23 000 teen pregnancies were recorded by the Gauteng Department of Health, It is crystal clear that society is losing its battle against teenage pregnancy. In fact this is nothing new. It is like a broken record playing on repeat. You can barely hear its melody while society continues to search for a remedy to deal with this crisis. But nobody wants to face the music and hear the real problem. The consequences of this are very painful

Such disturbing numbers pose a real threat to the future of these children. Some of them come from poor socio-economic backrounds. This will in turn continue to drive the wheel of poverty in these communities. Slowly spinning the lives of these young girls out of control.

We should also not solely blame our male counterparts. I often hear people complaining that old men are taking advantage of young girls. I do not condone such a cruel conduct. These are wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. But let us remember that these old men were once young teenage boys too. Most of them learned this bad behaviour from a very young age and in return some of them transformed into predators and monsters preying on young girls.

The sex topic should in its full capacity be introduced in our school curriculums. Although I do acknowledge that sex is a very sensitive subject to parents and teachers and it is often very uncomfortable to talk about let alone discussing t in a classroom full of school learners. But I feel like the education sector needs to take this giant step and hit the ground running.

By doing this a few trees might be shaken up and surely yield some fruit. So that children are shielded from harm’s way and receive much needed protection. An objective approach needs to be utilised when we deal with the issue of sex among children. We should stop patronizing these kids by dodging the bullet every now and then when the sex topic is being brought up. Kids already watch television programs showing glimpses of sexual conduct or hear adult music such as RNB songs with intimacy remarks embedded in them. Although such everyday media does not intend to corrupt children. Unfortunately the human mind can be quite intelligent and introduce sex to children in their early teens or adolescent stage.

It is time to lose our bluntness on the issue of sex among children and sharpen our knives. After all, holes already exist so we might as well strip this whole thing naked and be more transparent when dealing with the issue of sex among teens. Parents and teachers should hold hands, walk this long gravel road together to teach children the hard truth about sex. Even though they are still very young it is imperative that we start preparing these young school boys and girls for the tricky adolescent stage. For it is coming whether we like it or not and if we do not act now. These kids will join the action by themselves and learn the naked lesson the hard way.