LENA FEATURE BY

 NTSOTISENG RALENGAU

Children are often the hardest hit by poverty, and It causes life-long damage to their minds and bodies. The children, it in turn, are always likely to pass on poverty to their children, perpetuating a poverty cycle. Therefore, poverty reduction must begin with children, not excluding shepherds, and this can be achieved by providing them with vital education.

           Shepherds in Lesotho are a group of people most illiterate. Some of them get employed in order to help their parents with monies to pay for their sisters’ education. Theirs is to go after sheep or cattle in the morning, and come back in the evening, happy to find some hot dishes prepared by their sisters when they come back from school.

           Kelebone (6) is one of the unfortunate shepherds in Lesotho, who may not have a bright future, if he can stay as an illiterate shepherd up to his adulthood. He is employed to look after three cattle by the neighbour, and is paid M150.00 a month. His mother, who is unemployed, pays rent and buys some food with the money. This money is also used to pay for his elder sister’s school fees. She is in class five. His father is not employed too.

          He looks shabby with worn-out clothes, and dirty bare feet, which is the case for most of the shepherds in Lesotho. His mother thinks that if she or her husband can find a job, Kelebone will go to school, but as for now it’s still dark, as they do not have any other source of income. He has already been denied pre-school education at his age.

             Kelebene is not alone in this predicament, In the whole world today, consequences of illiteracy are profound, even potentially life-threatening. They flow from the denial of a fundamental human rights, which is right to education, proclaimed in agreements ranging from 50 year old Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the 1989 Convention on the rights of the child, which is the world’s most universally embraced human rights instrument.

       According to the Convention on the rights of the child, every child has a right to free primary education and access to secondary education as well as vocational training.

          Education, it says, develops the children’s personality, talents, mental and physical abilities to their fullest for an active adult life in a free society.

           It defines education as the single most vital element in combating poverty, safeguarding children from exploitative and hazardous labour and sexual exploitation.

           “ Education promotes human rights and is a path towards international peace and stability”, it adds.

            But, In the world today, more than 130 million children of primary school age in the developing countries are growing up without access to basic education. Over 855 million are illiterate.

     Fortunately, in Lesotho, some of the shepherds get literacy skills. Since the inception of the LDTC programme on Basic education in 1977, which teaches shepherds literacy skills and methods of starting income generating skills.

          The Trainer for the Non-formal education at the Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre (LDTC), Mrs Thakane T’silo-Mngadi says they work in five districts of Mafeteng, Berea, Leribe, Thaba-Tseka and Qacha’s nek.

          She said the number of learning posts in each districts are ten in Mafeteng, 35 in Berea, 19 in Leribe, 49 in Thaba-Tseka and 23 in Qacha’s nek, where main subjects offered are Sesotho and Mathematics.

          Mrs Mngadi indicated that last year they had 154 literacy graduates in the centres. The number includes four graduates from the Maseru district at the LDTC.

          As to how the work is carried out in the field, she said there are teachers chosen by members of the community, who have education of at least Standard seven or Junior Certificate.

          She said these people teach a minimum of 15 people at the centre, who come from a number of villages surrounding that area. What is a problem, she said is that these teachers work on a voluntary service, and they leave whenever they want, especially if they get jobs that pay them.

          These teachers, she added, are trained to train adults and to use learning materials before they could go to the field.

          This year only, she said 41 people graduated during the celebrations to mark  the International Literacy Day that was celebrated at Mats’oseng in Mafeteng on September 8, and were given certificates on literacy.

           She however said there has not been a year in which the theme for this celebration was focused on herdboys as they are only part of the people who need literacy skills.

           Speaking at this occasion, the Minister of Education, Mr Lesao Lehohla said researches show males as the most discriminated in education in Lesotho, because of the Basotho norm that a boy child should grow herding cattle.

           He therefore said his ministry is concerned about this, as it knows that education is the right of every person, without any form of discrimination of nationality, race, status, political affiliations as well as the place at which the person resides.

            In second his speech on the importance of the day over Radio Lesotho, the minister showed that Lesotho has committed itself to offer non-formal education until it succeeds.

            He said non-formal education is one of three main plans of his ministry this year, showing that what is encouraging is that it is expanding in the country. He said in order to give every child the right to education, his ministry has introduced Free Primary Education starting from this year, so that even the poorest of the poor, could get education.

           The message of the UNESCO Director-General, Koichiro Matsuura on the International Literacy day shows that education is a fragile good and one that is still too unequally distributed.

     She said Literacy training is the gateway to it, and to be useful and functional, such training must directly address improving the status of those it targets.

     Meanwhile, World Vision, an International Organisation working in Lesotho, also extends services for shepherds in Lesotho.

           The Director of World Vision in Lesotho, Mrs Nthunt’si Borotho said when coming to the education of herdboys in Lesotho, they focus on literacy and character development.

           She said at the Kota area in Butha-Buthe, they have eight learning centres, where the herdboys are taught literacy skills and how they should take care of people and the country’s economy, just like they do with the livestock.

           In order to develop their characters, he said they are taught to think of the consequences of everything they do, and then think whether it is good to do it or not.

           According to the 1999 Poverty Survey on Shepherds in Lesotho by the Sechaba Consultants, literacy, currently defined as having completed standard four, remains a serious problem for shepherds.

            It says in 1999, 71.8 percent of all persons more than 15 years were literate, while only 46.9 of all shepherds in that age category have completed standard four.

            The report says the figure represents an improvement over the 1993 figure of 36.8 percent literate, but shepherds as a group have a long way to go before they catch up with the rest of the population.  It also indicates that shepherds are not benefiting from the general increase in literacy.

            Apart from that, the Situation and Needs Analysis Survey of Herdboys in Lesotho by UNICEF shows that herdboys’ ages range from seven to 18 and most are between ages of 12 and 18 years. It says 12 percent are those ageing from seven to ten, while 88 percent are those ageing from 11 to 18 years.

            It shows that the fact that boys start herding at an early age of seven, which is the school-going age, implies that they have little or no access to formal education.

           The report reveals that 35 percent of the herdboys were found not living with their parents, 80 percent of the parents were single parents, and 12.3 percent live with employers.

            It says dropouts from school increase the number of herders, adding that most of the herdboys are denied education because of the need to herd from a very tender age and 50 percent in the foothills were not attending school.

            In conclusion, it says almost all herdboys had very little or no education at all, to enable them to earn a living by any other means than herding. It adds that primary education received varied from class one to nine, and that a little more than 50 percent are primary school dropouts whose parents could not afford school fees.

            Many people think that shepherds are deprived of their fundamental human rights, and something should be done, but some say they should herd because it is their job as no one can idle and eat while others work.

            Education is the foundation of a free and fulfilled life. It is the right of all children and the obligation of all governments.

Ends