By Hilary Kathlene Siyachitema

HARARE, Dec 23 (IPS) - Loveness Phelimon, 24, dropped out of school soon after finishing her primary school in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

''My father opted to send my younger brother to school, so I did not get an opportunity to go on to form one, although I would have loved to if I had been given a chance,'' says Phelimon.

Like many other girls, Phelimon has had to pave way for her male sibling so as to keep him in school.

Faith Kambarami, a social scientist based in Harare, attributes the discrimination against the girl child to Zimbabwe's traditional culture.

ôOur culture suppresses the rights of women and girls. It is a well-known fact that the position of the girl, or the woman, is in the home and kitchen. This is more evident in the rural areas than in the cities where parents are becoming more aware of the need to send their children to school," says Kambarami.

Statistics from a school in Harare show that eight girls dropped out in 2000, ten in 2001 and three in 2002. In comparison, the dropout rate for boys was only one in 2000, and two in 2001. No single boy dropped out in 2002.

The deputy headmaster of the school, who refused to be named, attributes the dropout to an increase in poverty and HIV/AIDS orphans, who number around 700,000. The bias is more pronounced in the higher levels of primary school, he says.

ôParents cannot afford to send their children to school because of the current economic climate," he says.

Up to 75 percent of the population of Zimbabwe, with an inflation rate of 135 percent, live below the poverty line of one U.S. dollar a day.

ôAnother major cause for concern is the rate at which young girls are getting pregnant," the deputy headmaster adds. ôThis stems from poverty where girls will do anything for money and in the process become pregnant."

In Zimbabwe, once a child becomes pregnant, she is immediately struck off school register, although she may re-enrol at any other school other than the one where she had fallen pregnant.

Phelimon, who is now married with three children, says the government should put more measures in place to ensure that the girl child has an opportunity to compete at school with her male counterparts.

The Zimbabwean government has adopted measures to ensure that the girl child gets an equal opportunity in education. These measures include affirmative action, which aims at doubling the number of female students entering selected institutions of higher learning.

The University of Zimbabwe, for example, specifies a cut off point for female students entering the institution. In 1995, the cut off-point was two academic points below that required for male students.

Kambarami says such efforts encourage the uplifting of women and have assisted in decreasing the number of school dropouts.

The dropout rate for girls in Zimbabwe is seven percent and the trend is more prevalent in high schools.

ôSuch programmes as affirmative action and Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) have helped to reduce the number of girls who dropout of school," Kambarami says.

BEAM is a government package that aims at assisting children, who have either lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS.

Zimbabwe, with a population of 14.5 million, has an estimated literacy rate of 80 percent, one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.(END/IPS/AF/ED/HKS/MN/02)