Online Reporter
According to the 2025 Education Management Information System (EMIS) Report, the country had 11 793 schools, comprising 8 308 primary (70,45 percent) and 3 485 secondary (29,55 percent).
Total enrolment was 4 671 149 pupils across Early Childhood Development (ECD), primary, and secondary.
Secondary enrolment stood at 1 158 015, with lower secondary at 1 080 102, while upper secondary remained at 77 913.
Yet, the same document says, as we report elsewhere today, that 39 736 kids dropped out of school in that year.
This is an alarming number of children getting out of the system in just one year.
These are individual stories of lost opportunity, interrupted dreams and diminished prospects. More concerning is that the majority of these dropouts were secondary school learners, exactly the age when young people are preparing to enter higher education, vocational training or the labour market.
“The ministry views the EMIS report with the seriousness it deserves and every learner who leaves school prematurely represents a loss that the ministry is determined to reverse,” commented Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education spokesperson, Mr Taungana Ndoro.
He added that the ministry is implementing a multi-pronged strategy centred on an early warning system (EWS), robust re-entry policies, and strong community partnerships.
Interventions to reverse the dropouts include strengthening the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), which provides financial support to around 3,5 million learners across the country.
Education is one of the most effective tools for breaking the cycle of poverty. When children leave school prematurely, the consequences extend far beyond the 39 736 learners. School dropouts are more vulnerable to child labour, exploitation, crime, substance abuse and early marriages. For girls, the risks associated with teenage pregnancies and economic dependence often increase significantly.
The long-term impact on the economy is equally concerning. Our hope to build a competitive, knowledge-based economy gets affected when tens of thousands of young people are being excluded from education each year. Every child who leaves school represents a loss of human capital that the country can ill afford.
The Government’s efforts to strengthen the EWS, expand school feeding programmes and actively trace learners who have dropped out are commendable. However, the scale of the challenge requires an even more aggressive response.
Financial hardship remains one of the biggest drivers of school dropout. Authorities should therefore expand support programmes such as BEAM and ensure that assistance reaches vulnerable families on time. More resources should also be directed towards preventing child marriages, teenage pregnancies and child labour, particularly in rural communities.
Schools, parents, traditional leaders, churches and civil society organisations must work together to identify at-risk children before they disappear from the system.
The real measure of success will be whether this year’s figures will show a significant reduction in the number of learners forced to abandon their education, because 39 736 kids dropping out of school last year was far too many children.
At the same time, we are keenly awaiting a report on how many of the 39 736 would be tracked and return to school this year under the policy that Mr Ndoro mentioned.
