By Onishias Kamana Maamba in Chipata
Over 3,700 hundred pupils dropped out of school in the first half of 2018 across eastern province.
Speaking during press briefing at his office on Thursday, Eastern Province Permanent Secretary (PS) Chanda Kasolo said 3, 796 pupils dropped out of school between January-June, 2018, mainly due to child marriages and poverty among others.
Mr Kasolo said of the total figure, 2,189 accounted for females while 1,607 accounted for males.
He added that 212 girls dropped out of school due to early marriages compared to 46 boys who left school to marry.
“We had a total 1,607 drop out for the boys, and believe it or not, there 46 of these that dropped out because they married. And in the same period, we had 2,189 girls that dropped out, now you see the statistics show that is the girls that drop out more than boys,” he said.
He said further indicated that 365 girls fell pregnant, while 1,612 dropped out of school due to economic reasons.
He said it is worrying that more girls had continued dropping out of school compared to boys, a thing he said call for vigorous strides to correct.
And he disclosed that 1, 134 learners were re-entered in school thought the re-entry scheme.
He however noted that 1,055 learners were not re-entered due to various reasons.
“We have a scheme were we re-enter drop outs, so out of the girls that dropped out, 697 were re-entered, the boys 437 were re-entered. So out the statistics, 1, 134 pupils’ boys and girls were re-entered into school after dropping out. So we adding back to the value of the economy. Out of all the statistics, we lost 1,055 boys and girls that we have not re-entered yet,” he said.
