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EDUCATION-ZIMBABWE: Getting Harder To Keep Children In School
By Tonderai Kwidini
HARARE, Jan 26 (IPS) - Alois Mufundisi, a media professional, earns 200 million Zimbabwean dollars,
about 50 U.S. dollars on the thriving parallel market.
On paper this amount appears huge, but in real terms it is just enough to buy
essential foodstuffs for half a month. He is barely able to keep his three
children in school. Seven years ago he could manage without any problem.
Now he has to do private jobs to supplement his income.
"Sometimes I can’t sleep thinking about where I can get my next dollar. It
really pains me to think that I may not be able to pay for basic things such as
my children’s education," said Mufundisi.
With hyperinflation at 8000 percent according to the Central Statistical Office
(CSO), keeping children in school has become difficult in Zimbabwe.
Educational standards have been on a free fall since the beginning of an
unprecedented economic collapse that started in 2000, with often-violent
seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms in the former
regional breadbasket.
"During our time education was free," said Mufundisi. "My parents could send
me and my siblings to boarding schools on my father’s civil servant salary,
but now I am in danger of not being able to do the same for my children."
Schools opened in Zimbabwe on Jan. 15 and teachers in Harare have reported
growing absenteeism. To make matters worse the country is facing acute
shortages of food, hard currency and fuel in the economic meltdown that
began in 2000.
Once Africa’s best, Zimbabwe’s educational system is now in crisis. Tens of
thousands of teachers in state schools are constantly on a ‘go-slow’ action
demanding a wage hike. There is an exodus of teachers to better paying jobs
outside the country. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) -
one of two teachers’ representative bodies - estimates that more than
15,000 teachers left the teaching profession in 2006.
Those who stay behind spend most of the time moonlighting. Even head-
teachers at private schools - where quality of education is better - are
demanding bribes of up to 200 South African rands or 50 U.S. dollars in hard
currency to enroll children.
"I had to pay money in foreign currency to secure a place for my daughter at
a private school in Harare," Mufundisi told IPS.
A teacher at a rural Zimbabwe school who spoke to IPS on condition of
anonymity said, "I am quitting and going to South Africa. I have sold so many
text books from my department library to supplement my meagre salary, I
have to make a move before I am caught."
President Robert Mugabe’s investment in education after Zimbabwe’s
independence in 1980 has generally been seen as the highlight of his
increasingly autocratic 27-year rule, although he inherited most of the
infrastructure from the former white colonial government.
PTUZ estimates that between four and five children share a textbook. There
are often four children to one desk in the poorly equipped classrooms.
Students are fainting in class from hunger. Girls are missing school during
the menstrual cycle because they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. School
dropout rates have shot up. Children are quitting school to supplement family
incomes as vendors, commuter omnibus conductors, even sex workers.
A price-freeze ordered by the government in June last year left store shelves
bare of most basic commodities, but the freeze was eased in phases to
restore the viability of producers and businesses. However, supplies of goods
have remained erratic.
Some Zimbabwean residential schools - hit by severe food shortages -
were reported to be insisting that students bring their own supplies,
according to Zimbabwean private media. The PTUZ said several boarding
schools had cut short the last term of 2007 after running out of food.
The union secretary general Raymond Majongwe told IPS, "Our reports
indicate that many schools will not open. These are clearly signs of the virtual
collapse of the education system."
Higher education is also in crisis. The Zimbabwe National Students Union
(ZINASU) - a representative body - released a report this week stating that
the country has the world’s highest college dropout rate outside a war zone.
The report further states that more than 31.5 percent of students were forced
out of school due to the exorbitant fees being charged in these institutions.
"The government only funds about 3 percent of the students in tertiary
institutions. 80 percent are funded by their relatives," stated the report.
"Zimbabwe is facing a sharp decline in public expenditure on higher
education, deteriorating teaching conditions, decaying educational facilities
and infrastructure, perpetual student unrest, erosion of university autonomy,
a shortage of experienced and well trained teaching staff, lack of academic
freedoms, and an increasing rate of unemployment among the college
graduates," the report damningly concludes.
(END/2008)
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