THE marginalised San community which has often been accused of resisting “civilisation” has finally embraced education with some of their children being enrolled for secondary education.
DIVINE DUBE OWN CORRESPONDENT
A report by Creative Arts and Educational Development Association (Caeda), a civic organisation advocating for the rights of the San people, indicated that there were 11 San children pursuing secondary education at John Landa Nkomo High School in Tsholotsho.
The report compiled by Caeda director Davy Ndlovu said the San education project was initiated by the late Vice-President John Nkomo, who was passionate about the rights of the former hunter and gatherer society. The report states the San community is the least educated in Zimbabwe and none of them has a school certificate.
“There is no one among the San community with a school-leaving certificate,” Ndlovu wrote.
“Children from the San community dropout of school during early stages of primary education, but the late vice-president’s intervention saw some of them proceeding to secondary school through bursaries.
“Currently, we have 11 San children at John Landa Nkomo High School doing forms one, two and three, and we hope that all the pupils in Form Three will sit for their “O” Level examinations next year.”
Ndlovu said there was need for the government to establish Early Childhood Development Centres so that more San children could be enrolled in schools.
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He also bemoaned a variety of factors linked to poor access to education by the San community, including language, poverty, remoteness, stigma, and other social and cultural factors.
Ndlovu argued that access to basic education could enable the marginalised San community to participate in both grassroots and national discourse on development.
