Over 20 thousand pupils drop out of school in Ngozi

School drop-out rate increases in Ngozi Province. Parents say they are worried.

Poverty in families is the leading cause of cases of school dropout

Around 20,555 school children dropped out of school in Ngozi Province during the 2016-2017 school-year. The number of boys who abandoned their studies amounts to 10,534 while girls are 10,021.

For the post-basic school, the rate also remains high at 9.3%. The boys who dropped out are estimated at 691 and the girls at 439. They are from Ruhororo, Gashikanwa and Marangara communes of Ngozi Province which come at the top of the ranking with the rates of 21%, 15.27% and 13.08% respectively.

The provincial director of education in Ngozi Province, Désiré Nitonde, deplores these cases of school drop-out that remain extremely high despite a number of measures taken to significantly reduce them.

He explains that the situation is due to several factors notably poverty in the families where the children come from. “Many parents prefer to suspend their children’s schooling in order to engage them in the activities that provide their families with food. Others send their children to do small jobs that generate some income,” he says.

The second reason is due to unwanted pregnancies and early marriages which caused more than 40% of girls to drop out of school.

Désiré Nitonde also says another reason might be malaria epidemic that plagued the northern provinces of the country last year, thus causing a high number of cases of school drop-out in Ngozi province.

Unconvincing measures

Ngozie provincial school administration defends itself. Désiré Nitonde lists a series of measures intended to significantly reduce or else put an end to the phenomenon. They include the awareness raising and empowerment of local leaders for students’ monitoring at home. Thus, school principals were requested to organize visits to the concerned families and see if students who dropped out may return to school as soon as possible.

Nitonde welcomes the campaign to distribute long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets that was launched last September. “This will at least prevent cases of school drop-out caused by malaria,” he says.

Child rights advocates count on the new law to combat gender-based violence, which will target adults responsible for unwanted pregnancies and early marriages in schools. The local administration took a legal action against any person accused of complicity in the cases of school drop-out. This measure mainly concerns men who impregnate schoolgirls or marry them while they are still studying at school.

However, parents of students are not convinced of the effectiveness of these measures. For Fidélité Niyukuri, a member of the management committee of Ngozi Basic School I, cases of school drop-out are a serious challenge for the country. She says the youth play an important role for the country. She says public authorities should be more involved in stopping the phenomenon.

Adélin Ndayambaje, a parent living Kinyami neighborhood in Ngozi city, calls for the synergy of actors in the sector of education to tackle the real problem and offer an effective remedy against school dropout.