“MY parents are based in Lukulu district but they sent me here for school as a boarder at Sesheke Secondary School. When I came here I did not like the kind of food served at school. I opted for my own accommodation arrangement so that I can eat the food I want.”
These words of 18-year-old Namukolo Mukela (not real name) are a common claim and an assertion of many pupils at Sesheke Secondary School who have chosen a “good life” in preference to education.
The situation, however, is not only common at Sesheke Secondary School but a tip of the practice in the Western Province as well as the rest of the country.
The school is the only secondary institution in the district and has been in existence since 1966.
During a tour of duty of the district, it was found that pupils in boarding were shifting to their own accommodation to run away from the school’s menu of beans and cabbage which is found in most boarding schools.
Pupils rent rooms in McKillop, area which is about 50 metres away from the school.
The mud and pole-erected rooms are, however, owned by individuals who seem to care less about the well-being of the pupils but only interested in getting money from the pupils.
It was established that pupils, who mainly comprise of girls, pay K80 rentals per month and 50 ngwee for a container of water.
Namukolo, who is a grade twelve pupil and not long ago was a school drop-out due to pregnancy, thanks to the re-entry policy, said she could not stand the kind of diet she was subjected to as a boarder.
She claimed pupils hardly had beef or chicken and this prompted her to look for her own accommodation with hope of having a balanced diet.
“We pay K650 per term as boarders and when I’m given that much I pay a K350 to learn as a day scholar and use the rest to buy the food I want to eat. I must say I’m enjoying life on my own,” said Namukolo expressively.
Indeed she was apparently happy with the arrangement as a visit to her room revealed another side of her life. In her room was a pair of a man’s canvas shoes.
And when asked to comment on why a man’s pair of shoes was in her apartment, Namukolo, dressed in a short blue denim skirt and a sleeveless top, burst into laughter and said, “Madam, honestly, I have no answer for you.”
It can be said that this awful behaviour has contributed to the high HIV/AIDS prevalence in the district.
The prevalence rate now stands at 13.3 percent and the fact that it is a border town which shares a boundary with Namibia is compounding the situation.
When contacted for a comment, Sesheke Secondary School deputy head teacher Gift Sibanze confirmed that pupils were renting apartments instead of living within the school premises because they wanted to be out of the school’s authority.
Mr Sibanze was appalled that pupils preferred their own accommodation arrangements instead of getting education first to enhance their future prospects.
He, however, admitted that pupils’ menu consists of beans and cabbage daily due to the challenges the school is facing.
But Mr Sibanze said, “We do give them meat and chicken once in a while but you cannot expect us to provide these things on a daily basis.”
However, he was quick to say that pupils, especially, girls were only living alone because of the freedom they were able to have but this practice led to early marriages and the increase in HIV and AIDS the district.
“When they are within the school premises we control their movements and their freedom,” Mr Sibanze said with concern.
According to him, the school enrolment which stands at 2,285 pupils, of whom 1,266 are girls and 1,019 are boys, has failed to record an impressive pass rate because of this development.
Current statistics of 2013 stood at 34 percent for the grade twelve results.
And to mitigate this challenge, the school has embarked on tracking and monitoring pupils in boarding from the time they join the school.
“We are now ensuring that we monitor the number of boarders as they come in grade ten,” he said.
Sesheke district commissioner Mihupulo Yumei expressed concern over the development and called for parents and stakeholders to join in addressing the challenge.
Mr Yumei called for stringent measures to be put in place to address the sad development.
He noted that “it is disturbing to see pupils engaging in immoral behaviour and worse still beer drinking due to cheap imported alcohol.
But, district education board secretary Mubonda Katukula apportioned blame on parents for this widespread development.
Mr Katukula noted that the renting of rooms by pupils has in most cases been a ‘blessing’ to parents.
“Some parents rent apartments for their children without the school authorities knowing about it. In my view, it is better to approach the school if they have challenges of paying boarding fees for their children than to rent rooms for them [pupils] as this gives them freedom,” he said.
In spite of the challenges mentioned above, the education system should continue in its vision of instilling discipline, upright moral values, and genuine patriotism for the good of the nation.
