Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
GOVERNMENT is working on setting up low-cost boarding schools at selected secondary schools in Beitbridge.
This is meant to enhance transition from primary to secondary level of education and mitigate the cases of new HIV/Aids that are common at bush boarding facilities.
Bush boarding is a set up where children stay alone at rented homes to access the nearest secondary school.
This was confirmed by a Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education official responsible for learner welfare and special needs, Mr Ignatius Mnikwa, at a stakeholders training on HIV knows no borders.
He said there were 19 secondary schools with 8 000 pupils and in some instances, these were far, discouraging some who may not want to travel for a longer distance to school.
He said they were worried about school dropouts, teenage pregnancies and child marriages in areas bordering Limpopo River.
In some instances, the shortage of schools is compounding challenges around fighting the spread of HIV/Aids.
“The worst-affected children are those who are living along the borderline. They end up dropping out of school and engaging in all vices,” he said.
“We are now working on building more schools and setting up low-cost boarding schools so that we may have more children transitioning from primary to secondary education. If they are busy with education, this may minimise the cases of juvenile delinquency.”
The ongoing training supported by the Family Support Trust (FST) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) aims to sync related stakeholders in providing health and non-related health services to migrants to reduce the rate of new HIV/Aids infections.
The current HIV/Aids prevalence rate in Beitbridge stands at 15,53 percent.
