The Zimbabwean
By Paul Ndlovu
13 October 2010
HARARE – The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture has issued directives to his subordinates to use US$10 million that lay unutilised at the treasury to acquire learning materials for secondary schools in the country.
Senator David Coltart said he came to know about the funds lying idle at the treasury when he met finance minister, Tendai Biti, two weeks ago. Coltart said that since the matter came to his attention he issued directives that the money be used to buy learning material for secondary schools in the country.
“All of it would go towards secondary schools. We are working on a budget for that cause,” he said. Primary schools are currently benefiting from 13 million books printed under the Educational Transition Fund (ETF). Secondary schools are expected to benefit fully under the fund’s second phase and the minister said he expected to reach a 1:1 student-textbook ration in key subjects by June next year.
Minister Coltart said that Phase two for the ETF was in the pipe line. “On Wednesday I had consultative meetings with all the Provincial Education Directors (PEDs) to review phase one, which was the distribution of textbooks for primary schools. Our second meeting will be held on 30 September and will centre on discussions around hase two, which will be the production of textbooks for secondary schools,” he said.
Coltart said the ministry was working on making sure that rural schools received their books before the rainy season. “The book distribution is a running programme as we speak,” he said. The education minister said apart from textbook production, phase two would also concentrate on rehabilitating sanitary facilities in schools. “I can’t say all the schools because that is subject to the raising of adequate funds for the process,” he said.
According to the Senator, the treasury had allocated US$1,3 million for the acquisition of 73 vehicles that would be given to District Education Officers (DEOs) around the country. The minister said the ministry observed that the problem of levies was alleviated by less supervision to police the system, making it necessary to purchase the vehicles to be driven for checks. “The DEOs had no reliable means of transportation to use when travelling to schools,” he said.