Young women more literate than men

07 Sep, 2014 - 06:09 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Debra Matabvu – Sunday Mail Reporter

At least 92 percent of Zimbabwean women aged between 15 and 24 are literate compared to their male counterparts, a recent Government study has concluded.

The findings come on the back of the 2013 National Census report that revealed the country has 52 percent females and 48 percent males.

And according to a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) carried out by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), the number of young females that are literate is more than that of males.

The report measures literacy rate by assessing one’s ability to read a short simple statement.

“… the findings also show that the literacy rate among the 15 to 24 age group was estimated at 92 percent for women and 86,1 percent for men,” read part of the report.

The document also showed that nearly all children who enrol for primary education in Zimbabwe complete their studies but only about 80 percent of the pupils proceed to form one.

The primary education achievement is a milestone as the country races to meet the 2015 deadline of the Millennium Development Goal Number 2 to avail universal primary education to all school going ages.

According to the report; “the percentage of children in the first grade (Grade 1) of primary school who had attended pre-school during the previous year was 86,2 percent. Net intake rate in primary education, defined as the percentage of children of school-entry age who enter the first grade of primary school was 73,3 percent,” revealed the report.

“The percentage of primary school age children currently attending primary or secondary school was estimated at 93,7 while that for children of secondary school age currently attending secondary school or higher, was 57,5 percent.

“The proportion of children reaching the last grade of primary was 90,7 percent, while primary completion rate was 98,9 percent.”

Zimbabwe’s educational gains had come under threat in the last 15 years due to an economic crisis that saw children failing to access basic education.

However, the Government has strived to provide educational funding under programmes such as Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) which during the first half of this year disbursed $8 million to disadvantaged school children.

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