The Zimbabwean
15 September 2009
The National Education Advisory Board, appointed in March this year, released its “Report on the Rapid Assessment of Primary and Secondary Education in Zimbabwe†yesterday at a Stakeholders Conference held at Prince Edward School, Harare. (Pictured: The Stakeholders in hall) The Assessment was funded by the European Commission, represented at the launch by Ms Barbara Plinkert, Head of the Social Sector. This was the first task requested by Minister David Coltart, in order to have reliable data on which to base the work of reconstruction of the education sector. Among other findings in the sample 120 schools throughout the country, over 20% of primary schools had not a single textbook for English, Mathematics or African language – even for the teacher! Large numbers of pupils in rural areas had no place to sit or write. School buildings, teachers’ houses, furniture etc were generally dilapidated. Many schools had not been visited for years by Ministry officials due to lack of resources. Examination results were generally poor, teacher morale was low and the relationship between teachers and parents had deteriorated.
The Conclusions were as follows:
“The Rapid Assessment focused on a number of problem areas and challenges which require immediate attention. Despite the limitations of a study done in such a short space of time, it provided a snapshot of the situation and the immediate steps needed to stabilize and improve the situation of education as a whole. At the same time, it made clear that a more in-depth approach is needed in the longer term. For example major inputs are required to improve the condition and morale of teachers who will always remain key players within the education system. These include repairing the damaged status of teachers and the problematic relationship which has developed between parents and teachers due to the fact that parents, including very poor parents, were forced by circumstances to take over responsibility for teachers’ remuneration during the period when the State was unable to fulfill its obligations in this regard. The staffing and resourcing of the MOESAC have been seriously affected, and need both re-structuring and updating. The shortage of resources for the education sector has to be seriously addressed and stabilized primarily by the State, assisted by donors and parents. At the same time, there has been major erosion of educational infrastructure which needs to be addressed. The provision of teaching learning materials has deteriorated to the extent that the industries servicing the education sector are no longer able to do so optimally.â€
The Report includes a number of recommendations on the way forward, divided into urgent recommendations to Ministry not requiring additional expenditure and those requiring additional funding, medium-term recommendations to Ministry and recommendations to Partners…ENDS