MUTARE- Plan International recently unveiled a housing project for teachers at Chikwomwe Primary School to ensure that vulnerable communities in rural areas access quality education to counter rising school dropout cases.
Plan International and local child friendly organisations like Simukai are running the +18 Ending Child Marriage and Teen Pregnancy in Eastern and Southern Africa to address key drivers of child marriage including poverty, limited access to education, religion and peer pressure.
The project is being implemented in 10 Wards of Mutasa and Mutare Districts, where it also recorded an increase in marriages of girls below the age of 18 from 32.8% in 2014 up to 33.7% in 2019.
Acting program area manager for Manicaland, Richard Matakunye said infrastructure shortages are barriers for children in accessing quality education, among key drivers of high cases of child marriages.
Matakunye made these remarks on the sidelines of a ground breaking ceremony of a US$9 000 teacher housing project, which will benefit and significantly improve welfare of six teacher families.
“We have lined up a number of projects at the school, so far we have completed the construction of two classroom blocks valued at US$24 000 with all the class room furniture, and other ancillaries provided.
“We are working on school computers and computer room, and three teachers’ houses. We are calling for collaboration, let’s work together for the betterment of our children by valuing these donations. I also encourage the children to work hard.
“We can produce doctors and engineers from this school, it is very possible,” he said.
The houses will be in a semi-detached configuration, to accommodate six families with four rooms each for a school established in 1997, with a staff complement of 15 teachers and an enrolment register of 606 students.
District Schools Inspector (DSI) in the Ministry of Education, Richard Gabaza who was a guest at the ceremony, also attended by representatives from Ministry of Public Works and Chipinge RDC officials.
Gabaza expressed worries over the growing number of child marriages, with Manicaland Province recording a surge from 4.9% to 5.4% in 2019 and high numbers of child marriages, as well as significant number of school dropouts.
Gabaza said government was committed to its Constitutional obligation of providing quality education for every child.
“In Zimbabwe, we have a constitution which says every child has a right to education. Zimbabwe government makes sure that every child through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education is going to school.
“We also have our partners like Plan International, which are so supportive when it comes to education. As the ministry, we respect access to education and quality education.
“We also discourage early child marriages, because no child should miss the opportunity to education. We are so grateful to Plan International for the job they are doing at this school,” he said.
