adminSukulwenkosi Dube Matutu, Plumtree Correspondent
FIFTEEN percent of children of school-going age in rural areas are not in school due to failure to raise fees and long distances to their nearest school, the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVac) 2016 report has revealed.
Other reasons for failure to attend school include pregnancy and early marriages, disability and lack of interest from pupils.
The ZimVac report said school attendance increased this year to 85 percent from 76 percent in 2015.
“Disability was among the reasons with the lowest frequency with one percent.
“The proportion of children who are not attending school has ranged between 14 percent and 24 percent in the past four years,” reads part of the report.
It says there is a need for the Government to consider scaling up the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) programme.
The report recommends the establishment of satellite schools as a short term solution to address the problem of children walking long distances to school.
It says the prevailing food shortages have an impact on school attendance as well.
Twenty-two percent of households in rural areas, the report says, had orphaned children while 23 percent were under foster care arrangements which could contribute to school drop outs.
Some households were said to have also resorted to withdrawing children from school to escape paying fees.
Recently, Matabeleland South Provincial Education Director, Mrs Tumisang Thabela said some parents were not enrolling their children for Early Childhood Education due to long distances the kids walk to the nearest primary schools.
She said some pupils within her province were walking up to 10 kilometres to reach the nearest school.
Online Reporter