CHADIZA District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) Ruth Moyo has bemoaned the high pupils dropping out of schools due to early marriages and cattle herding in the district.
This came to light when Chanjowe Basic School head teacher, Nathan Phiri presented the school report during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the school in Chadiza over the weekend.
Ms Moyo said that a number of pupils drop out of school because their parents use them for financial gain in cattle heading and early marriages.
She said it was saddening that the school going pupils were denied access to education by forcing them into early marriages and herding of cattle in the district.
“It is saddening that instead of the pupils to be at school are being forced into early marriages and herding of cattle,”Ms Moyo said.
Chadiza District was one of the districts in the country with high illiteracy levels.
Speaking earlier, school senior teacher Kenny Lungu said that 24 girls and seven boys dropped out of school between January and December 2012 due to early marriages and cattle herding.
Mr Lungu appealed to parents to cooperate with teachers in disciplinary issues in order to have good results at the school.
He also appealed to the community to help the DEBS office in providing upfront materials for construction of additional classroom blocks and staff houses at the school because the school had only eight classroom blocks, 23 teachers and 11 staff houses.
Meanwhile, School Parents Teachers Association ( PTA) Chairperson Chedai Phiri said that KR 50,000 had been given to the school under Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to construct a 1X 3 classroom block
He advised the parents who refused to pay school fees for their children to cooperate with the school administration in paying the money.
He said that some parents have refused to pay K 65 per school term fee.
Aaah! I was at the village the other month. Do you know what I heard? Parents are discouraging their children from being educated because the dearth rate among educated people is much much higher than the uneducated living in the village.
Kachepa…..
Eprogram
And you believed them..lol
Stamp out early marriages guys
What am talking about education is missing out its aims. If you can’t teach children from the beginning that education is the key to better life and you are busy teaching them how to be a good wife and take care of a husband, don’t think am lying at a private school in Lusaka that is part of a curriculum so what do you implement in those kids brains is what you sow. If you were able to empower those mothers things might change don’t always blame people some just don’t see the value of education because of lack of knowledge, if my father wasn’t educated I would had end as well in early marriage because my mother never went to school and wasn’understand the value of education.
I think villagers are right as KOMBONI DWELLER has said it all, educated pipo die early but mabulutu they stay long and are more productive too much kubala, look at SATA he is still strong but the educated LPM eluta, so Chadiza pipo shud continue with the practice of ealry marriages and cattle herding its good cos. who knows they can be like HH to have so many ranches
Thats why u are Malinso!
Build more schools in rural areas too much distances from one school to another. Same life style in rural areas in Zambia. Those who are near the rivers and lakes are distructed by fishing and early marriages and those with cattle they are taken up with cattle and early marriages. Why forcing them to pay school fees per term when it was declared free education for all? People in rural areas are poor and they live in total misery.