South Africa's Virginity Scholarship: The Mayor's Offer

South Africa Mayor Dudu Mazibuko has launched "Maiden Bursaries" to provide young girls with funding on condition that they undergo regular virginity testing.

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Recipients of the funding were required to undergo a virginity testing each time they returned home from holidays. Girl students could lose their scholarships if it was determined that they had engaged in sexual activity. Dudu Mazibuko, the Mayor who initiated the program has said it will help reduce teenage pregnancy and the spread of HIV/aids.

Activists argue these tests are intrusive and it is not fair to link opportunity to education and sex. At the epicentre of the world-wide AIDS epidemic, an estimated 6.3 million people in South Africa are HIV+. Teenage pregnancy is also on the rise as a 2013 survey found that teen pregnancies had risen to 1,00,000, a 40% jump.