Newsday
16 December 2010
By Silas Nkala
Zimbabweans should give the education sector between five to six more years to fully recover, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart has said.
Coltart said although this year was the country’s best academic year in a decade, evidence was that Grade Seven results had “gone down†in some schools.
“We have had the best educational year in a decade this year. Teachers were at school attending classes. There were problems of course around teachers’ incentives.
“It is still early to say what the quality of this year’s Grade Seven results is like because we are yet to sit down and do an analysis. However what I have heard from different schools is that the results for this year have gone down. That is, however, anecdotal and not empirical.
“If that is the case, I will not be surprised because, despite the advances we have made in the past years, the education sector still remains in a fragile situation. There have been few textbooks for over a decade. It is difficult for any teacher to teach without textbooks,†he said.
Coltart likened the education sector to an aeroplane which is in free-fall after its engines have failed.
“We are just starting to get some of the engines going but that process is only beginning, we are pulling the education sector out of a nose dive but it takes time. We will start to have improvements by next year. But even next year, we should not expect too much.
“Grade Sevens who will write next year haven’t had textbooks for the last six years. It is impossible to fully make up the deficit of the last six years.
“We would see the impact in four, five, six years when the Grade Ones who are starting their education now would have had access to  textbooks from their first year at school,†he said.
Coltart said although it would take time for results to show, strides had been made in the education sector.
“If you look at the education sector, you will see in microcosm, the functionality of this government. If you go back and see where education was you will understand. Teachers were on strike, I had 90 000 teachers on strike. Examinations had not been marked by February 2009.
“When I got to the ministry, the head office building was in chaos. Lifts were not working. Toilets were not working, the stench was appalling. It was like a sewage pond. At times people take it easy and forget where we have come from,†he said.
The minister said the textbook programme has been the greatest achievement of the ministry to date.
“At the moment we are working hard. We are delivering textbooks to 700 schools a week. We are now providing textbooks at about 1:1 student-textbook ratio.
“For the first time since independence we have produced books in Nambya, Venda and Tonga. Next year we will be producing Sotho and other languages.
“The Grade Seven examinations started on time and ended on time.
“The results also came out on time, at the beginning of December. For the first time in over two decades we are reviewing our curriculum,†he said.