In early February 2013,  31 students were sent to Turkey on a bursary in order to achieve an honours degree in teaching. The KwaZulu Natal department of Education partnered with a Turkish NGO, Horizontal Education Trust to create a programme that would help develop maths and science student and encourage them to become teachers.

Any student would consider this an opportunity of a life time, especially students who come from a disadvantaged background.

Education MEC Senzo Mchunu was embarrassed when he discovered that a student in the programme was pregnant and two other students got involved in a drunken brawl. These student have been sent packing and retuned to South Africa with out their bursaries.

It is unclear when the student fell pregnant, as they were not tested before leaving the country. The MEC promised to control the situation by conducting pregnancy tests before sending students overseas, in order to prevent it from happening again.

“There are those who may not want those tests, but they will have to make their own means,” Mchunu told News24

Angela Banda commented on news 24 site stating “we need to set a high standard for our kids as they will be the leaders of tomorrow”.

Furthermore Mchunu insisted  the department would not beg children to go and learn for their future.