41 pregnancy drop-outs since January in Kwekwe

Michael Magoronga – [email protected]

A TOTAL of 41 teenage girls from Kwekwe district have dropped out of school since the beginning of the year after either falling pregnant or getting married.

Thirty were forced out of school after they fell pregnant while 11 went on to stay with their perpetrators under a “marriage” set-up.

Among those who were impregnated is a primary school pupil.

Kwekwe District Remedial Tutor under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Addmore Shava, told a District Child Protection Unit (DCPC) meeting recently that most of these cases occurred in rural areas.

Mr Shava said some of the impregnated girls were brought back to school while some chose to get married.

He said under the “Catch-Up Strategy” of returning drop-outs to class, they have managed to bring back 237 pupils across the district.

“The drive is working out well as we have managed to bring some learners to class. We have also assisted 11 children living with disability to enrol at special schools. We have rolled out a number of projects including the pad-making projects, which also includes the boy child so that we keep them busy,” he said.

Speaking during the same occasion, a Plan Zimbabwe representative said they were paying tuition fees and buying uniforms for vulnerable children.

“It is worrying that we are doing everything, especially for the girl child but you find that most of them are dropping out of school due to early marriages or being impregnated. To date since the beginning of the year, we have recorded more than 300 girls who have dropped out of school across Kwekwe District,” said the representative.

In an interview, Ward 4 Junior Councillor Tendai Jack said many cases were going unreported in schools adding there were elderly women and men who were selling girls for sex, a practice known as “pimping.”

“There are girls who are used for sex, sold to men by elderly women and they get paid with the girls getting just a little. These cases are going unreported and even if we raise these issues no action is taken,” she said.

Clr Jack said poverty, peer pressure and drug abuse were also major drivers of teen pregnancies and child marriages.

“Due to hunger in some families, some girls end up being pressured into these practices by peers. They are forced into drugs and pimping by friends,” she said.

Clr Jack said forced marriages are still prevalent.

“Some parents push their children into marriage in exchange for food. We also have the Apostolic Sects who do not send their children to school. My personal friend, I last saw her after we completed Grade 7 and the next thing I met her in the streets, pregnant, selling some wares,” she said.

Going forward, she said Junior Councillors and Parliamentarians should be included in decision-making.

“We are being left out by elderly people who discuss issues about us without us. We should be involved so that we open up on the challenges and proffer possible solutions,” she said.

Kwekwe Junior Mayor, Clr Tatenda Masuka said drug and substance abuse was now rife and girls lose control when they are intoxicated.

“Drugs are now an everyday thing in our schools, we live with them daily and the situation is now out of control. Even if we try to expose some drug dealers, nothing is done by the authorities,” he said.

Clr Masuku also said the drug abuse menace has fuelled bullying at schools.

“Fighting and bullying is now the order of the day, which also leads to some girls being sexually abused by bullies. At one school there is a bully who calls himself Satan, he can do anything to anyone and school authorities cannot do anything to him,” he said.