By Bathel Shuro

CHINHOYI – ALTHOUGH extra lessons have been banned by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education many teachers still offer them usually in their homes and these have become a great risk for the learners as they are prone to sexual abuse since these lessons are unsupervised.
A survey conducted by Telegraph shows that while extra lessons are helping pupils produce better academic grades, however, they are attendant risks of unwanted pregnancies and rape.
Tinotenda, an “O” level candidate, said some of the lessons ended late.
“Amwe malessons anonoka kupera and isusuwo hatiende kumba straight. Tinombotenderera tichitiza basa tozosvika late. Saka, pakutenderera apa ndipo panoitika zvakawanda.”
He said that girls were sometimes proposed to by the teachers and ended up having affairs, while some girls were notorious for seducing the tutors.
Emilia Kapondera, said parents should make sure they know where their child was going and also kept in contact with the teacher.
“Mubereki anofanira kuziva time inobuda mwana wake. Akangoona yapfuura anofanira kutanga kutsvaga kuti mwana aripi, uye mubereki ngaave open kuti mwana akwanise kutaura naye,” she said.
She also added that extra lessons were a result of failure in the formal education system.
“Kuchikoro kwacho hakusi kudzidzwa. Mateachers acho ndiwo ari kuitisa malessons and ndiko kunonyatsodzidzwa nekuti maticha ari kuda mari. Saka sevabereki chatinokwanisa kuti mwana asasvike husiku.”
Another parent, who identified himself as Madzibaba, said extra lessons did not only affect the children, but were also a financial burden for the parents. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do because they wanted the best results for their children.
“Malessons ari kudhura. Mari yacho hatiigone, but hapana zvatingaite nekuti ndiko kuri kudzidzwa. Hurumende ngaipe maticha mari yakakwana kuti zvikoro zvidzidzwe. Maticha arikuda mari.”