Maseru, Aug. 06 — While the country continues to combat child marriages, teenage pregnancy and initiation schools which force young children living in remote areas to drop out of school, the Department of Social Development with the support of World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) introduced the Basic Education Strengthening Project (BESP) in 2022.
The program was intended to bring children who dropped out of school back into school.
It was the supplement of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children bursary and assisted children who were already under Child Grant Programme and were in Grade 7 and 8 as well as those who were supposed to go to grade 9.
The Department, together with representatives from the MOET and Journalists embarked on a field trip to community councils where the project was implemented to get feedback through success stories after BESP beneficiaries received the grants, as well as to find out why young boys and girls drop out of school.
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