4060 students selected for secondary education in January this year in the Rukwa region did not attend their respective schools.

Joseph Mkirikiti, while addressing the situation before the education stakeholders, he linked the situation with absenteeism and truancy, noting that 80.2% of form one students attended to their respective schools.

In the same statement, RC said that 16,264 pupils out of 20,324 were selected for secondary education at different schools across the region.

Mr Mkirikiti asked for a collective effort between his office and stakeholders to seek a viable solution to mitigate the students’ absenteeism.

For the record, In 2015, the government abolished fees for state-run secondary schools.