Editorial Comment: Every child has a right to education

Two weeks ago it was revealed that Matabeleland South was the province with the highest number of untrained teachers. And now studies are showing that Matabeleland North province has the highest number of children that are not going to school in the country as the province accounts for 14,4 percent of all children in the country that are not attending school.

According to the 2013 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVac) report, many of the children are not attending school because of financial constraints, illness, pregnancies, disability, long distances travelled to get to the school and laziness.

All these causes cited as the reasons why children are not going to school can be addressed. There must be a will and commitment to deal with the issues causing children not to attend school.

Surely these children are the future of the country and must be assisted so that they attend school. Financial constraints should be dealt with because Government has put in place the Basic Education Model Assistance (BEAM) under which pupils from poor families are assisted to pay school fees by the State. The parents or guardians of the children facing financial difficulties could also be assisted so that they become self-reliant.

This could be done through helping them establish income generating projects and these can be farming projects or small to medium business enterprises. Illness can be addressed through ensuring health facilities are accessible to the people and are well resourced in terms of drugs, equipment and personnel.

Teenage pregnancies require the effort of parents, Government and other stakeholders involved in the social services sector. Children with disabilities require special needs at schools and some of these facilities may not be available. However, there are special schools which cater for children with disabilities and Government should educate parents about the existence of such institutions.

Some parents might just keep their children who have disabilities at home because they might not be aware that there are institutions that can help their children get an education.

Long distances travelled to get to school must be dealt with by the Government by building more schools closer to the communities. This requires huge funding and given that the Government is presently hard pressed in terms of finance, this might take time to address. But should funds permit, it will be ideal for the Government to prioritise building more schools to reduce the distances pupils walk to the nearest school.

Proceeds of community share ownership schemes must be used to build more schools closer to communities. It is encouraging that in some districts, schools have already been built using resources from the community share ownership schemes. We urge the leadership and communities in Matabeleland North where the community share ownership schemes are in existence to consider this route to establish more schools.

Parents could also initiate building schools close to their villages to help reduce the distance covered by their children to get to school.
Recently we ran a story about the villagers from Insiza North’s Amazon resettlement area taking matters into their own hands and spearheading the building of a primary school in their area.

The villagers resolved that each family in the resettlement area should contribute a bag of cement and help in moulding bricks.
The villagers have since completed building two classroom blocks, which were finished late last year.

A block of 10 squat toilets for pupils and two for members of staff have also been completed while work on another block of toilets is underway. The Insiza North villagers also got help from the Constituency Development Fund.

We urge people living in areas where children walk long distances to school to think along the same lines and initiate development on their own rather than wait for Government.

The last reason given why children in Matabeleland South are not attending school is laziness. Well that is the responsibility of the parent or guardian living with the child.

As the Minister of State for Matabeleland North Cde Cain Mathema said, the political leadership, education officials and parents must unite and work towards ensuring every child goes to school.

Matabeleland North education director Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni said eight schools in the province had started implementing the back to school programme while 48 more were laying the ground to start the project. That is the way to go.