Senator Coltart: The hardworking minister

Sunday News

By Stanford Chiwanga

27 November 2011

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, is without doubt a newsmaker, not because he ruthlessly uses the media to promote his political career but because of his hard-working nature and commitment to reversing the decay in the education sector.

When Senator Coltart took over the Ministry of Education more than two years ago, few thought that he would solve the catalogue of challenges that bedevilled the education sector. Most teachers had left the profession, those that remained were not motivated as they were always striking, temporary teachers outnumbered qualified teachers and the student-textbook ration was wretched.

But fast forward to today and you see that the teachers that left want in, teachers are not getting enough but somehow they are motivated and have rarely gone on strike, the temporary teachers no longer outnumber qualified teachers and the student-textbook ratio is going back to 1:1.

Without a doubt Senator Coltart has set an example for other ministries and deserves the favourable ratings that are a tribute to his work ethic. It is because of all this and more that Let’s Talk went out of its way to remove the minister from his work for minutes to interrogate him about his achievements and inspirations in the education sector.

There has been no turnaround

The media and some experts in the education sector are convinced that Senator Coltart has turned an education sector that was infamous for disorganisation and chaos into a model of tranquillity with his dedication and hands-on policy.

But Senator Coltart does not agree with the assessment that he has done wonders and is adamant that education is far from a turnaround.

“I don’t think there is any turnaround to talk about here, I still feel that we are not yet out of the woods. My ministry has managed to stabilise it and I did not do that alone, I have a dedicated team at my ministry. For me it’s too early to say we have turned it around.

“Believe me when I took over education I had no idea what to expect. I was appalled by what I found; the whole sector had broken down. There were massive challenges and they are still there and if I was light-hearted I could have walked away but I decided to tackle all those challenges because I believe children have a right to education,” said Senator Coltart.

Nothing but respect

At the time Senator Coltart filled one of the hottest seats in the Government, the relationship between Government and teachers’ unions was beyond acidic. The Government was unmoved by the unions’ unrealistic salary hike demands and in turn the unions adopted a confrontational approach exemplified by never-ending strikes, when the Government refused to give in to their demands.

For Senator Coltart the re-establishment of good lines of communication was a must for teachers to start teaching again.

“Communication has broken down but I was determined to restore respect to the teaching fraternity so I came up with an open door policy. I got out of my way to make contact with the teachers’ unions. Now we meet regularly and I always give them an audience when they request a meeting and because of those talks my reign has hardly had any strikes.

“The secret of my success with teachers is respect that teachers are entitled to that and that if held in high esteem teachers will act in a responsible and patriotic manner. This year we hardly had any strikes or stay-aways; this is not rocket science but a policy of respecting teachers. I respect teachers and I treat them as human beings with needs like every citizen of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Teacher incentives

Parents and guardians give the thumbs-up to almost all policies that Senator Coltart has crafted for the education sector but there is one blemish that they are quick to point out when given the opportunity to do so – the controversial and much-debated teacher incentives.

To them the introduction of teacher incentives was a grave error because they have been compelled to take the position of the employer regardless of the fact that they like of teachers earn little.

“Incentives are serving a purpose because they help teachers stay in the profession as they supplement the survival salaries that teachers are still earning. They have stabilised the sector and I have no doubt that they have motivated teachers to teach with vigour,” said Senator Coltart.

Some proponents of teacher incentives have gone on to say that they have contributed to the development of the education sector but Senator Coltart is not convinced.

He said: “I don’t believe incentives have contributed to the development of the education sector in terms of progression. Development involves improvement and transition to another better level and that is not the scenario we have on the ground.  Their purpose is to keep teachers happy.”

Senator Coltart revealed that the scrapping of the incentives is not a decision to make alone and said for that to happen it will need the consent of the teachers’ unions.

“Incentives will be scrapped as soon as the teachers’ unions unanimously agree that they must go. I am not going to abolish them without the input of the unions and I don’t think the unions would want them to be abolished until teachers earn a decent salary,” he said.

The above sentiments are not surprising as Senator Coltart is on record for saying incentives are a necessary evil.

“I am sorry that as parents you have to pay incentives. I want to put an end to them but I should do so at a time that is responsible. I cannot to the thing that is popular and abolish incentives only to reverse the gains we have achieve since I became Minister of Education,” said Senator Coltart.

Decent salary

It is obvious that if teachers earned a decent salary the problems in the education sector would be few and far between. The awarding of a decent salary is one way of getting out of the deep end.

And Senator Coltart heartily agrees: “In the 1990s the salary of a teacher was the equivalent of US$500. I am not talking about the current valuation of the US dollar but that of the 90s, so if everything was in order teachers should be earning way more than US$500. For me then absolute minimum benchmark teacher salary should be in that level.

“If we are to restore dignity to the teaching fraternity, we need to look beyond that and model our education sector in the lines of countries such as Singapore that accord teachers the same respect as accountants and doctors. Our vision should be to remunerate teachers accordingly.”

Senator Coltart believes for Zimbabwe to make a transition from Third World status to First World there is a need to prioritise the education and welfare of teachers.

“In Finland even if you teach Grade One you need a masters degree and because of that requisite teachers are paid as much as other professionals who earn high salaries. Our teachers need to upgrade themselves as well because they are tasked with educating the future of the nation. And on our part as Government we should set ourselves a long-term goal, a national goal to give teachers what is due to them,” said Senator Coltart.

Teacher re-entry

The irresistible pull of the multi-currency system saw a number of teachers who had left in frustration developing a desire to come back into the system and the Government crafted an amnesty policy to make their re-entry smooth.

But it has been anything but smooth as some teachers who reapplied for their old jobs are being frustrated, some have their salaries delayed, some are blatantly denied re-entry and some have not even been paid months after being re-employed.

Senator Coltart had this to say: “I am aware of those incidents and subsequent complaints and I am deeply concerned and frustrated that some elements in acts of sabotage see it fit to put obstacles in the path of our teachers. I have talked to the Public Service Commission and we are investigating all those allegations. I hope we will uproot such elements and allow the education sector to have sanity.”

Free primary school education

In the 80s Zimbabwe used to have a free primary school education policy that gave a right to children to education but sadly it was scrapped.

Advocates for the reintroduction of free primary education are born every day and Senator Coltart is part of those advocates.

“The scrapping of that policy was a poor decision. We cannot deny those who cannot afford to pay fees the right to education because they have no money. The problem is that we are not making education an absolute priority. Free education is one of the things I always argue for in Government but I have sadly realised that we only pay lip service,” he said.

Senator Coltart believes that Zimbabwe has misplaced priorities and the changing of attitudes is the only way that free primary education will return. .

He said: “When money is being allocated in the budget, the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Home Affairs are given huge amounts of money while the education sector is given little. As long as we have such attitudes as a county, I don’t see education improving significantly.”

Condoms in schools

A controversial approach to reduce rates of sexually-transmitted diseases and pregnancies in schools, the distribution of condoms in schools was proposed by some non-governmental organisations and it raised such a stink that those who had no interest in education made noise about it.

However, Senator Coltart attacked that proposal saying the distribution of condoms in schools conflicts with common sense.

“I am opposed to condoms being introduced in schools, it’s inappropriate and will no way lower STDs and pregnancies, but will promote promiscuity.”

He believes that the implementation of abstinence education in schools is the only way to lower rates of teen pregnancies out of wedlock.

Textbooks

If there is one policy that has earned Senator Coltart adulation and accolades it is his goal to make sure that textbook sharing in schools is a thing of the past. He is already done with primary schools after convincing UNICEF and other Western agencies to donate 13 million textbooks worth US$50 million to the country’s primary schools.

Recently he launched the US$85 million education fund by the Government, the United Nations and other Western donors, which is aimed at improving education in the country’s secondary schools.

Other ministries have dismally failed to source such funds from the sceptical Western world which still treats Zimbabwe like a leper. So what is Senator Coltart’s secret negotiating tactic?

“It is easier to promote the interests of children than for other ministries, let’s say transport, to get funds for roads. Western donors are concerned about the welfare of children, the might be fighting the political leadership but they strongly believe that children should not be made to suffer,” said Senator Coltart.

He revealed that at first the donors were reluctant as they feared that the money could be abused.

Senator Coltart said: “To assure them that their money would be used well, we set up the Education Transition Fund which is managed by UNICEF, the donors and the Government. I am not against that arrangement because it is a win-win situation. The Government is not dictated in any way, it sets the agenda and the money is released to meet that goal.”

Infrastructure development

It is an undisputable fact that school infrastructures leave a lot to be desired as some students have lessons under tree, a scenario that also exists in urban areas.

Something needs to be done and Senator Coltart is already doing something.

“The Education Transition Fund Phase 2 will be looking at the rehabilitation of school classrooms, water and toilets.

“We are glad that the Ministry of Finance has given us US$27 million but it’s necessary to point out that it’s not enough. We have more than 8000 schools and if you divide that US$27 million each school gets US$3300 which is only sufficient to paint classrooms and offices. By my estimates we require amounts that run into hundreds of millions if we want to really rehabilitate our schools,” he said.

The distorted history of Zimbabwe

Senator Coltart and many others believe the history of the liberation of Zimbabwe is distorted and there is a need to rewrite it for students to know what really took place during the struggle for independence.

He said: “I believe that a distorted history gives birth to a lost and ignorant generation and does not give us a true identity of who we are, where we came from and where we are going. For us to have our true identity, we need to teach our children the true and objective history of Zimbabwe.

“That can only happen if we take politics out of the equation and allow neutral and apolitical historians to rewrite our history curriculum. Besides history, our curriculum is outdated and needs updating, we now live in a technology-driven world and our children need a curriculum that is computer-based. There is also terrorism, all these new happenings and innovations need to be captured in the curriculum.”