Schoolgirls who fall pregnant could face having to spend two years out of the classroom before being allowed back if a proposal in circulation within the Department of Education is approved, the Sunday Times reported.
The proposals further include provision for schoolgoing fathers to take paternity leave and for the young parents to be helped to get child grants for their babies.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor sent the 11-page document to provincial education ministers for their consideration and comment earlier this month, the paper reported.
They were given a week to comment, failing which the department would assume they approved, read the report.
The proposals are aimed at curbing unplanned pregnancies, it added.
In March this year, the Mail & Guardian‘s sister publication The Teacher reported that more than 72 000 girls aged between 13 and 19 did not attend school last year because they were pregnant.
Official figures from the provincial departments of education reveal that 5 868 learners in KwaZulu-Natal and 1 748 in the Free State fell pregnant last year. About 5 000 pregnancies were reported in Limpopo, while Gauteng recorded 2 542 in the past two years.