Every right not always right for every child

The news that pupils in Port Elizabeth had their HIV statuses announced to an audience should leave every parent shivering with fear.

One has to question the logic behind the testing of students in schools for HIV without parental consent.

How does a stranger, trained to see dozens of patients daily, see a child – their life experiences and their home situation unknown – as nothing but a statistic? How can these life altering tests be carried out on children without their parents present to soothe them into whatever the results may be?

The news that pupils in Port Elizabeth had their HIV statuses announced to an audience – primary school pupils at that – should leave every parent shivering with fear. Imagine sending your child to school to learn about the three ships that brought Jan van Riebeeck to the Cape of Good Hope, only for that child to return home with his or her life forever altered?

That a child can even terminate a pregnancy without parental consent is a problem. How does a sixteen-year-old emotionally cope without the necessary ongoing counselling and support? How do parents correctly respond to temper tantrums and personality changes when a child has altered the course of their development without the necessary support from parents?

Every woman has the right to decide what happens with her body – but where does the role of a parent end? How can parents take responsibility when legislation has decided that a child need not consult them?

We have to guarantee our children their fundamental rights, but as adults we should remember that every right may not always be right for every child… Some children are naïve and just not ready to have a stranger tell them they carry an incurable disease, never mind telling them in the presence of their peers.

Risky behaviour cannot be nipped in the bud and children cannot be reined in if parents are left in the dark. How do we steer our daughters from acts that might lead to unwanted pregnancies if we are unaware that they are visiting abortion clinics?

The government is helping students on a negative path. Nothing good will come from this. South Africans, have we seriously learned nothing?