adminSenior Reporter
THE Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture has introduced a back to school training programme targeting school dropouts aged between nine and 18 years with the view of helping them improve their academic and vocational qualifications. The pilot programme is already rolling out in Matabeleland North Province where the standard of education has reportedly deteriorated to the extent that some O Level pupils cannot read or write.
According to the concept note from the ministry the programme would give eligible school dropouts another opportunity to enhance their life skills and academic qualifications.
An estimated 68 percent of pupils in the country drop out of school during the transition from Grade Seven to Form One with rural pupils being the most affected.
Matabeleland North provincial education director Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni yesterday said eight schools have started implementing the back to school programme while 48 more were laying the ground to start the project.
She said the initiative runs alongside the Performance Lag Address Programme (PLAP), which was established last year to address learning anomalies and eradicate zero percent pass rate from schools.
“We started implementing the back to school programme recently with assistance from GIZ, a German organisation. So far the programme is running in eight primary schools in the province,” said Mrs Mnguni.
The eight schools are Gwelutshena in Nkayi, Hlanganani in Umguza, Mathe and Mbalibali in Tsholotsho, Mhlangeni, Loziba, Jiba and Lortondale in Bubi.
She said the initiative was run as a separate programme from the main learning process adding that the target for the province was to re-enrol at least 2 000 pupils.
The figure accounts for about 10 percent of the entire enrolment in the province.
“This is a separate class from the normal classes and has its own facilitators. GIZ buys uniforms and provides funding for the vocational projects that pupils undergo. Pupils in this category are taught life skills such as carpentry, poultry, welding, sports and so forth,” said Mrs Mnguni.
“On average each class has 20 pupils with one facilitator per class. The ministry has started identifying 48 more schools for the programme, 19 in Lupane, 20 in Nkayi, four in Umguza and five in Binga. The response is overwhelming with Nkayi for instance submitting an average of 40 pupils per centre.”
Matabeleland North is generally regarded as the province with the lowest pass rate in the country.
Mrs Mnguni said pupils who develop faster would be integrated into the main classes where they would be taken through PLAP before writing examinations.
She said GIZ was working with operating partners such as Orap, which have the required technical expertise in skills training.
Mrs Mnguni said there was a need for more goodwill on the part of parents and school authorities to ensure the success of the programme.
She said the assessment by the ministry has shown that a majority of pupils drop out of school at a very young age because of different factors such as lack of finance and poor performance.
The PLAP programme identifies the level or grade at which pupils stopped grasping learning concepts and accelerates them to be at par with other pupils at their level.
PLAP has registered sound success in Manicaland where it was first introduced and in Tsholotsho district where it was piloted last year, reducing the number of schools with a zero percent pass rate from 19 to seven.
Zimbabwe has the highest literacy rate in Africa and the two programmes are set to consolidate that status.
Online Reporter