Motor taxi business affecting education of young boys in CAR

It is almost impossible to spot young boys on the premises of this high school in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

Classrooms here are mostly filled with females, and this is because their colleague male students are literally on the streets. These boys have chosen to make a living from driving motor taxis at the expense of their education.

They blame the lack of jobs for members of their families as well as the unstable political situation for their predicament.

‘‘I went to school, but today I ride motor taxi due to the lack of help and the difficult conditions at home, I did the 5th grade class in the Boganda high school , then I could not get any more help, no insurance and so I became a truant in class. I got interested in the motorbike business when it arrived”,Jospin Ngaibino,a school dropout said.

The boys tell Africanews Correspondent Samuel Thierry Nzam that, this is a matter of survival.

But for the academic community, this activity, which provides short-term reliefs, will in the long run cost the Central African Republic its human resource.

Jean Claude Sarayo is a tutor at the Martyrs high school.

‘‘There are boys from 16 to 19 years old who have turned their backs on school, I think it’s a very bad thing, it’s about the future of the Central African Republic, if these boys have turned their backs it’s a loss of revenue for our country, and we can’t rely on those who come from elsewhere for the development of the Central African Republic. It’s these young people who turned their backs on the school that run — the motorcycle taxi business”,Jean said.

Our Samuel Thierry Nzam reports that the Motorcycle taxi activity is a major concern for authorities in the Central African Republic.

About 10,000 motorcycles are in circulation in Bangui alone and 85% of them are driven by these young boys most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 18.