Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve,Online Reporter
MORE than 49 000 primary and secondary school children dropped out of school last year, a development that has seen the Government intensifying efforts to tackle this surge through a multi-pronged strategy aimed at identifying the causes and retaining learners, particularly in provinces with the highest attrition rates.
Speaking at the National Assembly on Wednesday, the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education
Angeline Gata revealed that a total of 33 746 secondary school learners discontinued their education in 2024, with Manicaland Province recording the highest figure at 4 842.
Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, however, demonstrated commendable progress with the lowest secondary school dropout rate of 657, a testament to collaborative efforts between local authorities and community stakeholders.
At the primary level, 15 809 children left school prematurely. Mashonaland Central Province reported the highest number at 3 052. Conversely, Bulawayo’s primary schools recorded only 285 dropouts and were the lowest in the across all provinces.
Deputy Minister Gata said, as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, they have embarked on a programme set to ascertain the causes of the high school drop outs.
“We have embarked on a programme we call the Early Warning System. This programme will help us with indications on what are the causes of school drop-outs in both primary and secondary school.
“We are training our teachers who are helping us to identify communities that will need help. We are doing this partnering with UNICEF and it has been going on so far for six months. It has started already in schools and as we speak, they are on the ground training our staff,” said Dep Min Gata.
She said there are various reasons for school dropouts.
“Depending on the reasons, some of the reasons could be girls getting pregnant and school fees, which is being catered by BEAM. Girls dropping out because of pregnancy, this is a call to all of us, the leaders and parental involvement that we help each other with the community,” said Dep Min Gata.
She said some may be caused by distance to school and schools are being built to adhere to five kilometres for a child to walk to school and some, it is just clear motivation from parents that is needed.
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