VOA慢速英语2014 S. Africa School Keeps Pregnant Teens in Class

 

AS IT IS 2014-08-14 S. Africa School Keeps Pregnant Teens in Class

In some ways, the high school girls at the Pretoria Hospital School seem like many other girls their age.

But there is a major difference -- most of them will become mothers by the end of this year.

South African researchers say about 30 percent of girls in the country become pregnant by the time they are 19 years old. Only one-third of these girls stay in school while they are pregnant or after their babies are born. 

The Pretoria Hospital School is the only school in South Africa with a special division for pregnant girls. One hundred pregnant girls are currently taking classes there. Most were forced to leave traditional schools because of peoples’ treatment of them.

“I thought they would judge me, and that’s why I left. When I was at grade 9, there was a girl in grade 10 who got pregnant. When we walked through the halls, girls would go like, ‘Look, she was pregnant, she’s pregnant!’ So that’s why also I didn’t want to stay, 'cause I know what the people think -- and they judge easily.”

Sometimes South African schools expel pregnant girls, although the action violates the law. Many pregnant teenagers never finish their secondary education. More than 30 percent of students leave high school without finishing because of pregnancy¹. 

Dorothy came close to being in that group. She was expelled from school when she got pregnant. She spent months at home searching for another school that would accept her. She arrived at Pretoria Hospital School earlier this year and praises the environment.

"I began to feel welcome and not discriminated² against, and it was, it was lovely, because we could all share about the same thing -- no one was going to judge you. They are all mothers, we share the same pain, the same joys and, yes, the teachers don’t constantly tell us about what a bad deed we do, we did, and they support us.”

School principal Rina Van Niekerk says it is most important to raise every student to the correct educational level and keep them there. 

“There's no cutoff date for them to enroll³ at our school. So you will find that learners land up with you in the 3rd term of the year. But they're behind the work schedule that we are following. So you need to get those girls on par⁴ with the rest of the girls. Another challenge that we have is high absenteeism rates amongst the girls.” 

She noted⁵ that the girls also often miss school because of health problems linked to pregnancy.

Pretoria Hospital School opened the program for pregnant teenagers in the middle 1980s. It remains⁶ the only such school in South Africa. 

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

3 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

4 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。