Mkushi, November 27, 2007, ZANIS – A recent survey conducted by the ministry of Education in central province has rated Mkushi and serenje as the only districts with the least numbers of girls in school.
Provincial education Officer Davies Chisenga disclosed this during a two day Chief ‘s Sensitization Workshop on girl child education organized by UNICEF and held at the council motel over the weekend.
Mr. Chisenga said according to statistics from the research conducted in the province, Serenje and Mkushi districts were lagging behind in terms of providing basic education to girls.
He noted that compared to other districts in the province, the two areas had the least girl child enrollment figures and higher numbers of those that have dropped out of school.
He said a survey also proved that the number of girls that had gone up to grade seven was much lower than that of the boys in the same grade.
Mr. Chisenga attributed the low turn out of girl children in schools to early marriages, ignorance, disease and poverty.
He added that parents were also to blame as they often forced their girl children into early marriages thus depriving them of their rights to eduction.
He urged parents to desist from the trend and ensure that they give the girl child equal opportunities like their male counterparts.
Mr. Chisenga also appealed to the chiefs and parents in the area to discourage early marriages saying the trend only induced suffering on young women.
And speaking at the same workshop, Mkushi District commissioner Mwila Kunda warned parents who were in the habit of marrying off girl children at a tender age to stop the vice.
Mr. Kunda charged that it was wrong and against the law to marry off girl children at tender ages.
He said this is because the practice was detrimental and retrogressive to both the social and economic development of the country.
He said girl children, like their male counterparts, had a right to education, hence the need for parents to give them equal opportunities to access meaningful education.
He stressed that parents should at all times, be in the forefront of encouraging their children to go to school if they wanted them to lead meaningful lives.
Mr. Kunda also appealed to chiefs in the district to sensitize their subjects on the importance of sending their girl children to school.
He urged them to ban early marriages in their chiefdoms, saying it was the only way to enhance girl child education in the area.
The workshop which ended on Sunday attracted seven chiefs from the district.
Those who attended the meeting included Senior Chief Mboroma, chiefs Mulungwe, Chitina and Mbosha, Chikupili and Kaundula.
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