Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
PRIMARY and Secondary Education Ministry permanent secretary, Ms Tumisang Thabela has said there is a need for Government to address the plight of undocumented primary school pupils who are finding it difficult to proceed to secondary school.
She said the problem is more prevalent in border areas where irregular migration activities are rife.
Ms Thabela said some parents whose children were born out of the country were struggling to acquire birth certificates because of their migration status while others were just reluctant to do so.
Ms Thabela made the remarks in an interview on the sidelines of the presentation of the Secretary’s Merit Award to Dulivhadzimu Primary School in Beitbridge recently.
“We have a problem of undocumented children especially in border districts like Beitbridge. We have children who were born outside the country and some parents are unwilling to document them.
In some instances, they just want them to get the education here and go back to South Africa,” she said.
Ms Thabela said in cases where parents were unavailable, guardians were finding it difficult to obtain the documents because of restrictive legal requirements.
She said at times her ministry and that of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage jointly have outreach programmes to document children and also educate communities on the importance of getting primary documents for their children.
Ms Thabela said the issue of undocumented children and low transition from primary to secondary level was rife in Beitbridge District.
“We cannot stop the children from going to South Africa but let’s add value to them so that they migrate as competitive human resources. We need them to get proper jobs rather than settle for menial jobs,” she said. — @tupeyo
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