THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO COMBINED SECOND TO EIGHTH PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS AND INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA  The Ministry of Education has also made arrangements for informal education for herd boys.  There has been established the Lesotho Distance Teaching College (LDTC) which provides for distance learning for people who, due to factors such as work or family are unable to attend school but would want to further their studies. Enrolment in LDTC is free and candidates are tutored on weekends. They also sit for the national examinations for Junior Certificate (JC) and Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE). Secondary and high school education 191. Secondary and high school education is not free in Lesotho. However, the government has partnered with churches, who are the predominant proprietors of such schools, to arrange minimal fees for secondary and high school education. Teachers in these schools are also paid by government. 192. The Ministry of Social Development provides grants to pay for tuition fees for indigent and mostly, orphaned and vulnerable children at secondary and high school levels. Challenges which affect provision of education in Lesotho 193. As illustrated in part B of the report, statistics show that unlike most sub-Saharan countries, throughout all levels of education, in Lesotho there are higher numbers of girls than boys enrolled in schools although the numbers decrease significantly as the levels of education go higher. 194. Factors which contribute to school dropout in Lesotho include poverty, teenage pregnancy, early marriages, sexual harassment by teachers, high parent mortality rate due to HIV/AIDS thereby forcing children to head households, failure to accommodate learners with disabilities in the mainstream schools due to a small number of specialised 82