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Fungai Lupande

Mash Central Bureau

A report claiming over 4 000 learners dropped out of school in Mashonaland Central province last year is out of touch with reality as there is nothing scientific to back the statistics, the National Aids Council (NAC) said.

At a stakeholders meeting, NAC provincial manager Mr Edgar Muzulu said the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education had only recorded 447 dropouts due to teenage pregnancy for all the districts since the start of the lockdown period.

But a report said to have come from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, which has since been presented in Parliament, indicates that Zimbabwe recorded 4 959 cases of teenage pregnancies and 1 774 child marriages in January and February this year.

Mashonaland Central tops the numbers with 4 475 teenage pregnancies and 1 436 child marriages.

However, Mr Muzulu said: “We wanted to ascertain the truth and the data sources. Where did the information come from and was there no double counting?

“We are doubting the report. School register is one of the data sources, where is the other information coming from and which tools were used to collect the data.

“The report was not representative of the truth. According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, some children of school going age are not in school. We have a dilemma and we want to come up with a correct picture for our province.”

NAC is now concentrating more on models in terms of HIV/AIDS interventions with DREAMS programme (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) implemented in high HIV burden districts aimed at reducing new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women.