On this occasion of International Day of the Girl Child 2020, TaLI wishes every girl the ability to become whoever they can be without hindrance from individuals, structures and systems, but to be able to dream and fulfill their potential.
As conveners of Every Child In School Campaign – ECIS which accelerated the enactment of the Education Amendment Act and the Secretary’s Circular 3 of 2019 we wish to say the following;
- We are worried that not every child will go back to school due to the impact of closures of schools due to Covid-19, and that adding on to those who were already out, the government must make extra effort to encourage and support parents to send back kids to school.
- We are concerned about the status of some schools which have no capacity such as water and do not meet the requirements of opening schools. Such children are already being discriminated against and it is the role of the government to have seen that each school was resourced before all schools opened so that no child is left behind.
- The absence of teachers in schools have caused a way-ward behaviors by kids in these schools who are now engaging in risky behaviors as is circulating on social media, pictures of students engaging in sexual poses and we fear that there is more to it. We urge the government to immediately address this to ensure kids enjoy their right to education with proper structures that include teachers in these schools.
- We are concerned by child labor that seems to have begun in these schools as seen by the Mutasa children who were seen working on maize in a classroom, this is unacceptable especially after kids lost 6 months this year to come back to school and have their time wasted like this meanwhile being abused, the government must take action against such abuse of learners.
- We call on the government of Zimbabwe to ensure that there are mechanisms to swiftly implement the education amendment act of 2019 which was signed into law this March, specifically for ensuring that no pupil is denied entry into school for any reason including school fees, levies or any such accessories as uniforms.
Source: Tag a Life International (TaLI)
