Muzarabani, Zimbabwe - Some Apostolic Church members in Muzarabani District are allegedly denying their children the right to education on "religious grounds".
The problem has irked Chief Kasekete who has since approached the police in Muzarabani seeking assistance in identifying the parents before taking further action.
Chief Kasekete revealed this during the commissioning of classroom blocks for two schools in Sone Ward, Muzarabani.
Chief Kasekete said he was facing problems with parents who were denying their children the right to go to school on the pretext that their religion did not allow it.
"There are parents who went to school themselves yet they do not want their children to attend school just because of their religious beliefs.
"We have since taken the matter to the police so that they help us identify the errant parents," Chief Kasekete said.
He said he was worried that the parents were ruining their children’s lives.
"Children need to get their heritage. Education is the child’s precious heritage," he said.
The two schools, Gumbochuma and Chiridza Primary Schools, are direct beneficiaries of the Zimbabwe Developing Communities Project by the Non-State Actors Forum, a local non-governmental organisation.
Speaking at the same occasion NSAF chairman Mr Fred Ndlovu said the ZDCP project sought to uplift people’s standards of living, especially in remote areas.
"We are not donors. NSAF is an organisation that fights poverty through identifying the people’s needs," he said.
Mr Ndlovu said the organisation’s wish was to attract trained personnel to rural areas through developing them.
Muzarabani MP Cde Luke Mushore urged the community to maintain the new classroom blocks, saying they had opened a new chapter in the education system of the area.
ZDCP constructed two classroom blocks and a teacher’s house for each school. The organisation also rehabilitated 30 deep wells for the community.
The project cost about 120 000 euros. Muzarabani South MP Cde Edward Raradza, who is the ZDCP regional chairman, also attended the commissioning ceremony.