ABOUT 10 girls between the ages of 14 and 18 from one
secondary school in Hwange District dropped out of school this term after they
got married.
Matetsi Secondary School is located in a resettlement area
almost halfway between Hwange and Victoria Falls.
School authorities have raised concern as seven of the
girls failed to write their Ordinary Level examinations after their parents
married them off. One girl reportedly returned to write examinations after
giving birth.
Two recent cases involve two Form One siblings aged 14 and
15 whose parents allegedly forced them into marriage after the older one fell
pregnant.
Some members of the community said early child marriage and
teenage pregnancy cases are common in Matetsi, with some of them perpetrated by
parents who marry off their minor daughters for economic gains.
They advocated for the arrest of parents who force their
children into early marriage. The school’s development committee chairman, Mr
Emmanuel Shoko, confirmed the incidents.
“It’s true and we are shocked as a community. We had a
meeting with education officials on 30 September where the District Schools
Inspector (DSI) Mr Germination Ncube tasked us to mobilise villagers and
community leadership.
“We called for a meeting but only a few people turned up
and we had to reschedule. We don’t know the cause of these early child
marriages yet and we are keen on investigating. If these girls were boarders,
we would blame the environment they live in but they are all from within the
community which scares us as we suspect there could be something wrong in our
homes,” said Mr Shoko.
Matetsi Ward Councillor Vulindlela Mhlanga attributed early
child marriages in the area to moral decay.
“We’re preparing for a ward meeting with the DSI because
we’re worried that while we’re busy building schools some people are abusing
children willy-nilly. We’re still investigating but what we’re getting is that
some cases are not reported.
“It’s worrying to have seven girls failing to write O-Level
exams and some Form Ones getting married. Each community should have its values
and as Matetsi I think we adopted a bad trend of abusing children which is
affecting their education,” said Cllr Mhlanga.
A Hwange based civic rights organisation Buwalo Matalikilo
Trust (BMT) initiated investigations into the cases after its officers noted
the school dropouts.
BMT executive director Mrs Anna Mandizha-Ncube called for
behaviour change among community members.
“As BMT we’re aware of school dropouts in Matetsi which
were brought to our attention by our volunteer Gender Actions Teams (GATS). We
reported some of the cases to the police and we believe investigations are in
progress. We have also engaged stakeholders because these early child marriages
have become worrisome and shocking,” said Mrs Mandizha-Ncube.
Her organisation has been doing awareness programmes such
as ‘Changing the River’s Flow for Young People, Asikhulume/Let’s Speak and
Rights Action and Accountability’ aimed at concientising the community about
gender-based violence and rights abuses.
“This issue needs urgent attention. We will continue campaigning
against early child marriages and encouraging communities to report such cases.
The community needs a serious paradigm shift on how it addresses these issues
of gender-based violence because we have noticed a culture of concealing cases.
It’s our plea then to all stakeholders for serious holistic intervention,” said
Mrs Mandizha-Ncube.
Hwange DSI Mr Ncube said the Ministry of Primary and
Secondary Education is investigating the issue.
“We heard about school dropouts and visited Matetsi to
investigate. We still have to speak to the community because we haven’t
established the root cause.
“We noted that some kids just disappeared while some got
pregnant and are married hence the need to speak to the community so we help
each other. School authorities cannot shape these children alone without the
input of parents who we expect should value their children’s education,” he
said. Chronicle
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