Some Mat North pupils walk more than 30km to schools: RUCET

Rural Community Empowerment Trust Coordinator for Matabeleland North Vumani Ndlovu has bemoaned that some of the pupils in the province and other areas still walk more than 30 km to school after 43 years of independence of the country.

"Infact in some areas the pupils walk more than 30km to and from. This is very unhealthy. This situation contributes to the failure rate in the rural areas. Can't expect a child who walks up around 3 am to go to school, dismisses from school at 4pm and arrives home around 9 pm to do well in his or her studies," Ndlovu said.

"Arrives home tired and has no time to attend school work. Long distances have also resulted in high school dropouts, pregnancies. Transition from grade 7 to secondary school education is also highly affected because of the distances. The situation is compounded or exacerbated by poverty levels in the rural areas."

Ndlovu said imagine having to endure those long distances in empty stomachs.  

He said the same challenges are experienced in the health sector.

"Access to health centers is a serious problem. Communities have to incur transport costs to access health facilities. It's a serious concern for the communities, especially pregnant women. Child mortality rates are high because of home deliveries. There are no ambulances to assist sick pupils get to hospitals," he said.

"I urge the parliamentary Education and Health portfolio committees to physically visit the rural areas affected and have first hand information and experiences so that they can make debates and policies from an informed basis."

He said pressure must be put on the responsible ministries to allocate resources to alleviate this unhealthy scenario.

"A multi...stakeholder approach is needed to deal with this situation," he said.