1000 pupils drop out of school over hunger, trekking distance

Student Pulse gathered that most of the drop outs are members of about 3000 families who were repatriated from Tokwe-Mukosi flood basin to Chingwizi area following the devastating floods of 2014.

According to the Masvingo provincial Education Director, Zadius Chitiga, who was quoted in a The Herald report, two primary schools and one secondary school have been worst hit.

The schools are Nyuni primary which is about 20km away, Chingwizi Primary and Secondary which are 15km, and Zunga primary which is about 15km away.

Chitiga explained the students choose to drop out because they cannot endure hunger pangs or the extremely long distances between their new settlement and schools.

"Initially we had about 4 300 pupils for both secondary and primary schools in Chingwizi, but when we carried out an audit, the figures had dropped to about 3 000 pupils," Chitiga said.

"There could be many factors behind the decrease in pupil population, one being the distance and to a greater extent, hunger.

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"We understand Chingwizi families are where they are because of a natural disaster and it is apparent that there tend to be challenges.

"Families depend on food handouts that chances are high that their children may leave for school without having put anything into their stomachs."

He said the government will send a team of inspectors "to get a true picture of what exactly is happening."

It will be recalled that, following the 2014 floods, President Robert Mugabe declared the situation in the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam Basin a state of national disaster.

In a press release from the then Ministry of Local Government Public Works and National Housing, quoted by IRIN in a 2014 report, the government said" about 20,000 people within the dam basin are at high risk, while another 40,000 downstream are at medium risk of flooding.”