By Beldina Nyakeke, The Citizen Correspondent
Musoma. Lake Victoria has been a major source of income and rich nutrition to residents of Mara Region, however, the lake’s fortune has now become a barrier to education goals for schoolboys around it.

A team of journalists who recently visited a number of primary and secondary schools in Rorya, Musoma and Bunda districts,   was baffled to find out the lake, renowned for its highly demanded fish species, has been on the other hand, an obstacle to the region’s quest to fight illiteracy.

“Why should I wait for all ten years to get money for my family while the lake has everything to offer me right now,” said  Julius Manyama, 19, a form two drop out in Rorya District.

The school drop-out rate in the region is very high because schoolboys are getting caught up in fishing activities as means to generate income to their families.

 “School boys are dropping out of school at an unbelievable rate. However, what the schoolboys don’t realise is, they are jeopardising their future,” says Mr Mewama Barre, Mtiro Secondary School’s headmaster
 “The dropout rates are getting higher and higher every day, and more and more people are making a huge mistake. Dropping out of high school is a huge mistake,” he warns.

Mr Berre says that most of boys who have quit his school to engage in fishing naively claim it pays them better and quicker than education.

He says that his school which is allocated about 100 km from Musoma Municipality, is one of the heavily affected by drop outs.

He blames the parents for instigating the dangerous practice.”We have found that they (parents) are the ones who convince them to quit schools so that they can bring home both income and fish for family consumption.

The fishing lure is hard to contain according to Mr Barre, who  adds that during the high season the number of boats soars to 600 at the village, which he says offers his schoolboys an opportunity for casual jobs.
He says fishing looks to be a very profitable activity in the impoverished area.

“The lowest income a person gets per season is Sh300,000 while highest earners get up to Sh2,000,000.If a schoolboy can  easily pockets Sh2 million in a season, he is most likely to convince others to join him,” adds Mr Barre
He says his school faces both dropouts and absenteeism threats at an alarming level. Citing an example, he says there have been over 10 cases of dismissal due to chronic absenteeism in every school management meeting.
He says several attempts to bring the dropouts back to school have failed to yield fruits.

“The schoolboys have become hard nuts to crack since they have all blessings from their parents. In some cases which have been reported to the responsible authorities, parents have not been willing to cooperate with them in sorting out the issue,” he notes.

He says ignorance has been the major source of everything and strongly opposes the parents’ claim that associates school dropouts with poverty.

He says he was astonished to find that chronic absenteeism and dropouts make 40 to 50 per cent in his school’s attendance list.

Things are not different at Nyamunga Secondary School in Rorya District, where, like other neighbouring schools; absenteeism is also at an alarming stage.

The school’s headmistress, Ms Elizabeth Wilson says about 40 students (boys) are out of school daily.
She says most of the students quit school since they can’t do both fishing and schooling and those who try to engage in both scarcely managed to participate fully and at the end they attain disgusting results in the examinations.

Joseph Charles Kitiro, a Form Four student at the school, admits to have heard his fellow students saying their parents usually convince them to go fishing, believing it can earn them some money for essential needs.

But, according to him, his friends just capitalise on their parents’ ignorance to run away from school.

Similar problem faces Bulamba Secondary School in Bunda District. The school’s second master, Mr Charles Somba says poor performance has been his major concern.      

“You can’t serve two masters at same time. Most of my students engage in fishing at night and attend classes in the daytime. Fatigue makes them lose concentration,” he notes.

He says that the situation does not only hinder education goals at the school but also puts the life of students in danger as well due to the fact most of them are not experienced fishermen.

“I lost one of the students early this year when their boat capsized due to the storm,” he says.
There number of schoolboys who skip classes at Kibuyi Primary School in Rorya District is also very big, according to the school’s deputy head teacher, Mr Singira Somba.

“Most of those affected are aged between 14 to 20 years. They hang out at the shoreline looking for casual jobs. It has now become a habit even to those who regularly attend classes to spend their weekend fishing,” he says.
He says that school management has made efforts to convince parents to cooperate in the campaign to prioritise education in the district, but none of them paid off.

Also worried with alarming rate of absenteeism is Mwiseni Primary School’s head teacher, Mr Boniphace Msige.
“The attendance at the school is 30 to 40 per cent after the rest of have gone out to fishing,” he says.

Mr Masige says that in order to overcome the problem, his school has launched a special operation to put to task parents who initiate chronic absenteeism. In that exercise four parents were brought to Bunda Primary Court to face justice.

“One of them was fined 50, 000 shillings while three others were ordered to bring their children back to school,” he said.

He believes that the operation will help to curb both absenteeism and school dropout culture in the district.

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