BY AWAKHIWE KHUMALO
A Lower Six pupil from Lupane has won a national essay competition about ending the scourge of child marriages in a Zimbabwe.
Natalie Ndlovu a student at Zwangendaba High School saw her essay being ranked the best out of 1 900 national entries competing for the first prize at an event held at Goromonzi High School in Mashonaland East Province on Friday.
For her effort Natalie received a certificate, prize money of US$150 and was also honoured as the regional winner for Matabeleland North province where she got an additional certificate and US$100 prize money.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which organised the competition in collaboration with the Primary and Secondary Education ministry, a total of 1 908 essay entries were received from Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Midlands provinces.
Matabeleland South had the highest entries of 800 while Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central had 483 each, Mashonaland West had 227 while Matabeleland North had 54 entries, being the lowest.
The essay writing competition aimed at exposing and curbing the scourge of child marriages in Zimbabwe.
A team of eight adjudicators, who formed the judging panel, concluded that the question of ending child marriages was extremely relevant as child marriages are prevalent.
They also said child marriages affect Zimbabwe and the wider world. Pupils, who submitted essay entries had vast knowledge on how child marriages affect children, the judges said.
Speaking at the national schools essay writing competition award ceremony, Olivia Kaira, chief director for primary and secondary formal and non-formal education, bemoaned child marriages saying they stifled economic development as children won’t develop to reach their potential.
She said child marriages were a form of forced unions with under-aged children and are a violation of laid down regulations that safeguard the interests of children.
In her speech at the prize giving ceremony, ZLHR member Precious Chakasikwa highlighted the harmful effects of child marriages in Zimbabwe and outlined some commitments and legal cases as well as other interventions, which the country’s leading legal defense group has done in a bid to stop the prevalent scourge.
The competition, whose topic was “Child marriages, causes and effects ran under the theme “Towards ending child marriages by 2030”