Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THE number of pregnant girls who drop out of school is still high across the country despite the existence of a law allowing them to remain in school even after being impregnated.
The Education Act which was amended last year makes it illegal to expel pupils who fall pregnant.
Teenage pregnancies or child marriages, financial constraints and low perception on education have been cited as some of the reasons contributing to pupils dropping out of school.
Prolonged school closures due to Covid-19 pandemic, worsened the situation.
A joint thematic committee report on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the provision of quality education, sanitisation and hygiene management in schools tabled in Senate last Thursday said the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has made great strides towards ensuring access to education for all.
In the report, Senator Tsitsi Muzenda said her committee had observed that the outbreak of Covid-19 has affected the effective delivery of education to learners and prolonged school closures have increased teenage pregnancies.
“Adolescent learners easily fall pregnant during their schooling days due to poverty and peer pressure. This was also worsened by the one-year break due to Covid-19 pandemic with most school heads noting that the statistics were unusually high during 2020,” she said.
“Although the Government policy allows such girls to continue with schooling when they fall pregnant, some of them were shy to continue under such circumstances. This problem has negatively affected all the schools visited. At Mangondo Secondary School in Bikita, 60 percent of the drop-outs were as a result of early pregnancies. At Maqhekeni Secondary School in Bulilima, 13 girls fell pregnant during lockdown and only two of them managed to come back and continue with their education. At Madlambudzi High School in Plumtree, there were six confirmed cases of learners who dropped out as a result of pregnancy. School authorities indicated that the Covid-19 lockdown which induced idleness contributed to this sharp increase in teenage pregnancy.”
Senator Muzenda said her committee also observed that there was a high number of learners dropping out of school due to financial constraints.
She said there is also low perception on education in some communities contributing to school drop-outs.
“This problem affected mostly schools that are in gold rich areas and those closer to the borders such as Tsholotsho High School, Maqhekeni Secondary School and Madlambudzi High School. Most people are cross-border transporters, are well off but have no or little educational background. Learners therefore, aspire for such a lifestyle and drop out of school. School authorities indicated that learners drop out of school and cross to South Africa or Botswana and within a year or two come back driving good cars,” said Senator Muzenda.
“At Madlambudzi High School, they had four confirmed cases including one girl child who dropped from school and skipped the borders. The Botswana border is porous, with many illegal entry points, therefore many learners illegally skipped the border to find piece jobs in neighbouring countries. Musume High School is in an area with gold and cases of drop-outs are increasing as most children were resorting to gold panning.”
She said in Matabeleland region, travelling long distances to the nearest school was also fuelling drop-outs as some of the pupils travel between 15 and 20km to the nearest school.
“Learners have to leave their home as early as 4AM to get to school and arrive at their homes as late as 7PM. This is more problematic during the winter and rainy seasons. At Madlambudzi High School, there was once a transporter who used to ferry learners to and from Masendu and Mazwaligwe areas which are more than 15km from Madlambudzi High School but now he no longer offers the service and it has thus affected about 40-60 learners. At Tsholotsho High School, children from places such as Mvundlana and Phelela areas travel at least 12km a day to reach the school,” she said.
“Some learners stay across rivers and during the rainy season, they fail to cross such rivers and they drop out. At Maqhekeni Secondary School, there are learners who come from areas such as Makumbi, Mazwaligwe, Garamtata, Shaba and Ntoli areas who travel at least 10 to 15km to reach school. There is therefore, a high temptation for most learners to drop out of school.”
Senator Muzenda’s committee recommended that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should close the gaps that exist between rural and urban learners. — @nqotshili
Online Reporter