PRISCA MANYIWA-MASUKU
MIRROR REPORTER

KWEKWE – Lead consultant on Zibagwe Rural District Council Master Plan has recommended the construction of more secondary schools to avoid dropouts that currently stand at 46%.
The masterplan team also recommends a maximum distance of 2km for ECD pupils to walk to school.
Lead planner for Zibagwe, Johnson Mikuku told journalists at a recent meeting at a local hotel that there is a 46% school dropout rate between primary and secondary and he attributed this to the long distances of up to 15km that students walk to the nearest secondary school.
He said many infants are delaying ECD because of the unbearably long distances they walk.
There are 145 primary versus a total of 50 secondary schools in rural Kwekwe, Zhombe, Silobela and the resettlement areas.
He revealed shocking figures where in 2022 some 44 000 pupils registered for primary education but only 11 000 students made it to secondary. This means that 33 000 dropped out.
“There is a huge dropout rate of 46% between primary and secondary schools. We had 44 000 pupils for example enrolled in 2022 for primary but we had only 11 000 students in secondary which means 33 000 dropped out along the way.
“We found out that there are far more primary than secondary schools.
“We have a critical shortage of A’Level schools. Students walk up to 15km in Sidhakeni, Rujeko and Siyapambili High school. The distances are too long and we recommend more secondary schools,” said Mikuku.