Girls most school dropouts in Mat North

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ABOUT two thirds of the thousands of pupils who have reportedly dropped out of school owing to hunger in Matabeleland North province are girls, a local human rights watchdog, Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), has claimed.

ABOUT two thirds of the thousands of pupils who have reportedly dropped out of school owing to hunger in Matabeleland North province are girls, a local human rights watchdog, Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), has claimed.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

Primary and Secondary Education ministry officials recently said thousands of students had been forced to drop out of school in recent months, as hunger takes its toll in Matabeleland North.

ZPP, in its latest October human rights report, said in Matabeleland North, it had gathered evidence that the majority of the affected pupils were girls.

“The number of violations was down in the province in October. Poverty and famine resulted in several school children dropping out of school. Two-thirds of the dropouts were said to be girls,” ZPP said in its report titled Internal Strife — A Cancer in Zimbabwe’s Main Political Parties.

Northlea  High School students  and staff move down the ZITF road

On Monday this week, Chief Shana of Jambezi confirmed scores of students were being forced to forgo school, owing to drought-induced hunger following last year’s poor farming season.

Speaking during the donation of food hampers by a confectionary company, Bakers Inn, to the hungry villagers in Jambezi, the chief appealed for urgent food aid to alleviate the hunger situation.

“The situation is terrible as we are seeing some students now failing to attend class, as a result of hunger. There is need for urgent food aid,” Shana said.

National Youth Development Trust, a youth-based civic group, recently called on government to roll out a schools-based feeding programme in Matabeleland, to allow students to enjoy their constitutional right to food and education.

ZPP added in some areas such as Binga and Hwange, girls aged between 13 and 15 were being forced into early child marriages by their parents or guardians in a bid to raise money for food. “Most of the girls aged between 13 and 15 are forced into early sexual abuses and marriages, especially in Binga and Hwange districts. Some parents send their girl children into early marriages just to raise money for food.”