14 September 2009
Radio VOP
Harare, September 14, 2009 -Education, Sports and Culture David Coltart on Monday appealed to the government to allocate more resources to the education sector as the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on Monday availed 70 US million dollars to Zimbabwe schools.
Speaking at the launch of the Unicef’s 70 US dollar million fund to assist in the buying of school textbooks to Zimbabwe schools Coltart said the education sector is in a “calamitous state” , regretting the ongoing strike by teachers.
“If we do not allocate meaningful resources in real terms to the education sector it will remain in calamitous state. Most of our buildings are seriously dilapidated and they alone will require hundreds of millions of dollars to rehabilitate,” said Coltart.
“When I took office in February 2009 I found the education sector in a calamitous state.I deeply regret the on-going strike and I hope that an acceptable arrangement can be arrived at shortly to ensure teachers back into classrooms.”
Peter Salama , Unicef’s country represantative said the US 70 million dollar fund will be used to buy school textbooks after realising that almost one textbook is shared among 10 pupils.
“Unicef has estimated that the ratio of textbooks to pupils is around 1 textbook for every 10 children,” Salama said.
“The objective for the first year is to reach every child in Zimbabwe with a textbook within 12 months.”
Zimbabwe education sector, once the best in the region has been facing problems in the last decade due to the political and economic crisis over the years.
Teachers are on strike demanding a salary hike from the US 165 dollars to US 500 dollars.
Zimbabwe unity government formed by long the long ruling President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been struggling to access donor funds to kick-start the economy.
The European Union at the weekend announced it would give 90 million Euros for the education sector and said Zimbabwe must fully implement the political deal that brought the unity government in February.