Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa
By Richard Lee
27 March 2012
Zimbabwe’s education system has received a huge boost from the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID), which has announced that it is allocating US$38 million to the second phase of the Education Transition Fund (ETF).
The Fund, which is managed by UNICEF, has already helped to stabilise the country’s crumbling school system and this additional support will help to accelerate the revitalisation of the education sector by contributing to improving schools systems and governance, enhancing teaching and learning, and providing second chance learning opportunities for the large number of out-of-school children, particularly girls who do not proceed to secondary school.
“The success of the first phase of the ETF has demonstrated the remarkable results that can come out of strategic collaboration between the government and development partners in relation to education,” said David Coltart, the MDC Minister for Education, Sports, Arts and Culture. “Already we are seeing impressive improvements in the sector. This second phase will further complement the advances already being made in improving the quality of Zimbabwe’s education.”
The first phase of ETF saw the procurement and distribution of more than 22 million textbooks to all primary and secondary schools in Zimbabwe. All books for primary and secondary schools have been distributed, including English, Mathematics, Environmental Science, Shona, Ndebele, History and Geography – shifting the pupil textbook ratio from a crippling 10:1 to 1:1.
This contribution adds to the support that other donors – including Germany, Finland, the European Union and OSISA – have already provided to the second phase of the ETF.