By Kefiloe Kajane
The principal of Thaba Lesoba Primary School at Kueneng in the Berea district, Liako Qhoshela, says the school’s girls are faced with a sickening dropout rate due to poverty, child marriage and rising teenage pregnancy.
Qhoshela said this at the celebration of International Day of a child this week at Thaba Lesoba. The day was marked with the help of aid organisation World Vision Lesotho. This year’s theme is ‘My Voice, our equal future’.
Qhoshela observed that many girls leave school because of poverty while others miss some classes during their menstrual periods due to lack of sanitary pads. Others either do not have school shoes or uniforms triggering absenteeism.
She intimated that some parents are not educated enough to empower the girl child.
“We are faced with a problem of parents who are not empowered themselves and still hold on to old cultural practices. They are raising a girl to get married not to become an independent woman. They marry her off at a very young age which becomes a huge problem.
“Many parents are gender biased because they expect a young girl they are marrying off to quit school and become a housewife and mother at young age. Also, they expect the boy to also quit school when he gets married and look for a job. Where will he find a job if he does not even have a qualification?” Qhoshela asked.
The chief of Thaba Lesoba, ‘Marethabile Mokhororo, expressed concern that teenage pregnancy in that area is a big social challenge especially for girls aged between 13 and 15 years. She said the rife problem is that most of the pregnant girls do not get married.
Again, she regretted that there many orphaned children who fall prey to pregnancy at young age.
“The other problem is that when these girls who do not have parents fall pregnant, they are forced to look for employment while leaving their children alone. They become orphans although one of the parents still live. Those who leave to seek employment hardly make it back home,” she explained.
To encourage young girls, Queen ‘Masenate Bereng Seeiso, said they should always believe in themselves and know that they “are loved at all times.”
She said girls’ menstrual hygiene should be taken as an emergency and sanitary pads should be available even at schools. This, she advised, would make girls feel protected and clean at all times.
She was highly thankful for teachers who sometimes spend their money to buy sanitary pads for some girls so that they could not miss classes.
She advised that those in power could ensure that such necessities are freely available to girls while at school.
“You will see that condoms are readily available everywhere and to me that is not an emergency. An emergency is this one of girls who end up missing school because they do not have sanitary pads. The study that was conducted by the World Vision Lesotho on the impact that Covid-19 had on people especially children, showed that 72 percent of the interviewed population said food had become expensive.
“It also showed that child marriage has increased with nine percent since Covid-19 began. This is why we all have to come together and protect our children because it is all our responsibility.
“These are your children. They are looking to you to protect them even when they no longer have their biological parents. Let us realise that when you educate a girl child, you educate the whole nation. We should start today to protect these girls so that tomorrow we can have independent women that will become brilliant leaders,” she said.
World Vision Lesotho’s national director, James Chifwelu, said everyday should be a day that everyone advocates for protection of a girl child. He said it should not only be something that is marked once a year but every day.
He said World Vision Lesotho is working hard to make ensure that the rights of young girls are protected at all times. He said the status as the champion of young girls would encourage them to strive to be future brilliant leaders.
“As World Vision Lesotho we are available to everyone who is willing to work with us in protecting the rights of young girls. As communities, let us normalise reporting any crime that is being committed against our young girls,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the girls, a pupil of Thaba Lesoba Primary School, Ikaneng Mokone (11), pleaded for girls to be given the same opportunities as boys. She said girls should be protected and not be allowed to be married at the young age as “that destroys their future.”
“We are what is left of our generation please protect us. We want to one day make Lesotho a better place. Therefore, we want to feel safe in our communities,” Ikaneng said.
