Massive school dropouts cause for concern Mrs Boithathelo Mnguni
Boithatelo Mnguni

Boithatelo Mnguni

Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
MORE than 47,000 Form Four and Form Six pupils either dropped out of school or failed to register for public examinations countrywide last year, mainly due to poverty.

According to a national analysis done by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, a total of 44,306 O-Level pupils and 3,299 A-Level pupils did not register for the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) examinations.

“The 2014 national enrolment for the Form Fours last year was 200,897 and of these 156,591 registered for five or more subjects. The difference of 44,306 did not register for the examinations or registered for less than five subjects,” reads part of the analysis.

The report lists Mashonaland East, Masvingo, Matabeleland North and Midlands as the worst affected provinces. Mashonaland East recorded 6,477 drop-outs, while Masvingo recorded 7,006.

In Matabeleland North, a total of 2,720 potential candidates did not sit for the examinations while 6, 410 dropped out of school.

The metropolitan provinces of Bulawayo and Harare have the lowest number of school dropouts, given as 18,1 percent and 17,5 percent.

Expressing concern over the high number of dropouts, the ministry cited failure to pay examination fees by parents as the major problem.

The report notes that some schools are discouraging pupils who are perceived to be dull from writing the final examinations in an effort to achieve high pass rates.

Lack of examination preparedness, blamed mainly on lack of resources, is another reason why pupils drop out of school, the report reveals.

Bulawayo and Harare provinces, the analysis revealed, recorded the least numbers of school drop-outs because most parents and guardians are employed and can afford to pay school fees, compared to those in the rural areas.

The national enrolment for Upper Six was 32, 635 and of these pupils, 29, 536 registered for two or more subjects.

The difference of 3, 299 either did not register for the examinations or only registered for one subject.

Mashonaland East, Harare and Masvingo had the highest number of students who did not register for two or more subjects.

Mashonaland East recorded 1, 055, Harare 1,119 and Masvingo 451.

The rest of the provinces had low differences between enrolments and candidature ranging from 10 to 80.

“The quality of education, especially in rural areas, has been compromised by long distances to school, severe shortages of qualified teachers and failure by parents to raise school and examination fees,” reads the report.

The government recently announced that parents will now be allowed to stagger payment of examination fees as it moves to balance the right to education and the economic challenges facing the country.

The examination fees for A-Level candidates are $26 per subject and $15 per subject for O-Level candidates and an additional fee of $15 for practical subjects.

Some schools are, however, reportedly excluding poor performing pupils from registering for examinations in a bid to record good results.

Matabeleland North provincial education director Boithatelo Mnguni recently attributed the school drop-outs to hunger, saying it was becoming a scourge among the learners.

She said the province recorded a sharp increase in absenteeism during the first and second term due to hunger.

Last month in Masvingo, it was reported more than 1,000 pupils dropped out of school since the beginning of the year.

The Masvingo provincial education director, Zadius Chitiga, said three schools had been hard hit by dropouts as pupils fail to due hunger pangs coupled with long distances they have to walk to their schools.

In the Matabeleland region, more than 6,000 have dropped out of school, with education authorities in the region cutting learning hours as a significant number of pupils come to class hungry.

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