The Herald
By Felex Share
4 November 2011
Government and donors yesterday unveiled seven million textbooks and learning materials for secondary schools worth US$18 million under the Education Transition Fund. The Government and its partners also announced the launch of a US$85 million facility to address water and sanitation concerns, reduce the level of school drop-outs and improve school systems and governance in the next four years.
This brings to 22 million the total number of textbooks distributed under ETF to primary and secondary schools countrywide. The textbooks will enable Government to achieve its target of one textbook per pupil in six main subjects; Mathematics, English, Science, Geography, History and indigenous languages. Over 800 000 pupils in 2 345 schools will benefit under the facility. The books and the learning materials are expected to be in all secondary schools countrywide by January next year.
ETF is a Government-initiated programme being co-ordinated by Unicef and the donor community launched two years ago with the aim of mobilising resources for the education sector.
Addressing delegates, Vice President John Nkomo underscored the need for Government to protect disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils. VP Nkomo challenged Government and the corporate world to address challenges being faced by children in remote parts of the country.
“While the achievement is welcome, I urge you to cast your eyes wider and address the peripheries and ensure that pupils in those areas have a better future. “Government has been committed to bringing quality education to every child regardless of status in life. The quality of our students depends on the quality of education we deliver.”
VP Nkomo said Government should empower future generations and give them a legacy that would see them upholding their societal and cultural values. “We are also hopeful that the youths will acquire the requisite skills to preserve our national heritage and compete at the same level with their counterparts in the global village.
“This way, they should be able to, on our behalf, stake a claim to the equitable and sustainable distribution of our national resources for the benefit of present and future generations,” he said.
VP Nkomo added: “Zimbabwe’s economic potential resides in its cultural, human, environment and ecological diversity.
“This can only be succeeded through appropriate human capital developmental strategies embedded in an astute education system and stringent policies that protect our national resources from neo-colonialist exploitation.”
The textbook to pupil ratio stands at 1:10 in most secondary schools, while an estimated 15 percent of schools in rural areas have no textbooks at all.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the textbooks would help the country in fighting poverty.
“This deserves celebrations because it will increase the pass rates, which had declined in the past years. Government will continue addressing social services especially education and health,” he said.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart, described ETF as a “huge investment” in the education sector. Minister Coltart urged the Finance Ministry to allocate more funds to the education sector in the 2012 National Budget.
“In the last budget we were allocated US$66 million in theory but what has been transferred to us is far less than that amount. Even the initial amount translates to less than US$2 per child,” he said. “People should shift from this lip service and commit themselves to education because it is the backbone for the development of the country.”
Unicef country representative, Dr Peter Salama, said Zimbabwe placed “enormous” value to education and his organisation would continue assisting it. The event was attended by members of the donor community, Cabinet Ministers, senior Government officials and provincial education officials.