By Senator David Coltart
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture
Harare
28th September 2009
“ Back to the futureâ€
Introduction
Mrs Robertson, Chairlady of CHIZ, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for this invitation to open your annual conference. I note that your theme is “Back to the future†and that this represents a feeling of much greater optimism about education in Zimbabwe.
It is just over a year since the global political agreement was signed. It is a flawed agreement and as a result the process will remain flawed. However it remains the only viable nonviolent option for Zimbabwe and to that extent we have no choice but to make the arrangement work.
You are correct to be optimistic about the future. Whilst this has been a very trying decade I have no doubt that the process is irreversible and that as a result education in Zimbabwe has a bright future.
Chaotic state of education
Whilst it was obvious to me before I took office in February that the education sector was in a bad way I had no idea that it was in such a shambolic state.
It is now clear to me that the education sector has been seriously neglected for at least two decades. The amount of money the government has spent on education sector has steadily declined in real terms for almost 2 decades.
The recent study done by National Education Advisory Board together with my own inspections have revealed the following
– serious deterioration and collapse of the physical infrastructure of schools
– the loss of some 20,000 teachers and the deliberate headhunting of maths, English and science teachers
– textbook/pupil ratios of 36:1
– very low morale of the vast majority of teachers
– 68% vacancies in head office and the resultant massive human resource challenges
– ZIMSEC in a deplorable state
– no curriculum development since 1983
Three main policy thrusts
In light of the chaotic situation I have decided to pursue three main policy goals:
1. Restoration of a Basic education
– get teachers back into classrooms. Rapport with trade unions.
– Address textbook ratios. Establishment of Education Transition Fund
– change from a solely academic orientation to a balance between academic and vocational
– conservation farming
– civics/democracy/human rights
– every child on competing his or her education should be able to read and write English and his or her mother tongue, have basic numeracy skills and be trained in at least one skill which will make the child employable or able to be self-employed.
2. Academies/Centres of Excellence
– concern that disadvantaged talented children will drown in the mediocrity of a Basic education
– need to start somewhere to bridge the gap between the relatively poor education offered by the vast majority of schools and the still excellent education offered by most non-government schools which are beyond the means of most poor Zimbabweans
– creation of the means to objectively and fairly identify talented that disadvantaged children in the rural areas and poor urban schools
– creation of a scholarship program
– the initial rehabilitation of a core number of government schools with good infrastructure and boarding facilities
– the need to develop public/private partnership arrangements
– the reservation of some 40% of the intake at these schools
– the creation of a mechanism within the ministry to reward the best school heads and teachers to channel them into such academies/Centres of excellence
3. Private Education
– private education institutions have been somewhat under siege in the last decade
– the fact of the matter is that were it not for our non-governmental schools the state of education in Zimbabwe would be even more catastrophic than it is already
– at the very least my role must be to allow our non-governmental schools to function without hindrance
– however I have seen that my role should be more than that
– I have been influenced by a new book written by James Tooley, called “The Beautiful Tree†published by the Cato foundation in April this year
– Tooley was commissioned by the World Bank to study elite private schools in India and whilst there it was drawn to the fact that in India there are many private schools running efficiently in the poorest areas. He describes his book as a personal journey into how the world’s poorest people are educating themselves
– accordingly I see my role as creating a viable structure and body of laws which will enable the proliferation of private schools in a manner that does not undermine our education system but which enhances it.
Cooperation with CHIZ
As you can imagine the task lying before me is not an easy one. I have very severe human resource constraints and even worse financial constraints. I have the additional challenge of not being an educationalist.
NEAB has been a wonderful support that there is almost no limit to the amount of support that I need in the formulation and implementation of the three policy goals I have set out above.
CHIZ has an important role to play in a variety of ways some of which include the following:
1. Expand the vision of Independent schools and your organisations which run independent education institutions in Zimbabwe. South African example to be followed. Consideration of help to the poor, smaller independent schools. Help in the formulation of legislation and policies to govern the operation of Independent schools so as to maintain adequate standards. Tooley writes in his book about the efforts of some elite schools in other countries working against the establishment of poor private schools. I trust that that will not happen in Zimbabwe.
2. Assistance with government schools in the area of private schools. In particular assistance with the development of the academies/Centres of excellence concept.
3. Assistance given to the ministry by helping organise and run activities which will be of widespread benefit to Zimbabwean schoolchildren. For example the development of national leagues for all the main sporting disciplines.
4. Work on policies to integrate schools more into Zimbabwean society. A major concern I have is that many of our private schools have become islands of privilege and are alienated from Zimbabwean society. The corollary of that is that an unacceptable the high number of children coming out of independent schools do not end up in Zimbabwe. Whilst I recognise that that is mainly the result of a collapsed economy we must nevertheless jointly work on policies that will ensure that the vast majority of children going through private schools have a deep love for Zimbabwe and a deep desire to spend their lives within Zimbabwe.
Conclusion
I have felt a sense of deep privilege in having been given this task of stabilising and rehabilitating the education sector in Zimbabwe. I am not under any illusions about the enormity of the task and about my own deficiencies.
However what I am absolutely convinced about is that the rehabilitation of the education sector is an absolute prerequisite if Zimbabwe is to become a modern vibrant democratic state. In that sense the future of the country largely depends on the success or otherwise of what happens to the education sector.
As I have travelled the country I’m more convinced than ever that the vast majority of Zimbabweans view education as their number one priority. Most of my Cabinet colleagues agree with me when I state this. However that has not translated into the amount the government has spent on education in real terms in the last two decades. Indeed arguably even in the heyday of the 1980s success of governments did not spend enough on education.
Last week I had the privilege of visiting Finland to examine their education system. One of the most staggering things I learnt there was that unless you have a Masters degree in Finland you cannot be a teacher. Literally every teacher in Finland as a Masters degree; that applies from grade 1 teachers right to a through to the final years of high school. It is not surprising that Finland enjoys the highest educational standards in the world. But as you will appreciate the cost of generating thousands of Masters degree graduates has been met by the Finnish government over several decades. It took visionaries who were in the Finnish government simply decades ago and the consistent commitment of successive governments to achieve the remarkable standards they enjoy today.
It is in this context that whilst I agree with your theme of “back to the future” that should in fact be only our first goal. If Zimbabwe is going to become the most competitive country in Africa, as it should be, then we are going to have to set our sights much higher than the general educational standards that were reached in the 1980s.
We lag far behind in our vocational education. We lag far behind in the teaching of ICT. Perhaps most seriously we lag far behind in raising children who have a deep respect for fundamental human rights, who exercise tolerance and who deeply believe in the use of nonviolence to overcome conflict.
These are the challenges which lie ahead. However what gives me confidence more than anything else is that Zimbabwe is uniquely blessed with thousands of well-trained, committed and professional educationalists. This is no more so in your ranks.
Accordingly I believe that if we all work together we can achieve these lofty goals in the years that lie ahead.
I hope that this conference will mark the beginning of the new course we are charting for ourselves. In the circumstances it gives me great pleasure to declare your conference open.