Financial Gazette

4 May 2012

Education, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart, has defended the latest school fees increases at private institutions saying there are far below what is being charged by other institutions in the southern African region.

Responding to a question posed on his official website by a parent who had asked why his ministry was allowing private schools to rip off parents, Coltart said in comparison to other schools in the region, local charges were reasonable.

The parent had expressed concern that the school fees increases were not being matched by salary hikes, leaving parents and guardians in a precarious situation.

“I am aware of this problem – the trouble is that fees at private schools are still way below what the region charges and for as long as that situation persists, we will see the loss of teachers to neighbouring countries,” said Coltart without disclosing what was being charged by private schools in Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland where some Zimbabweans, particularly government ministers, send their children.

“Good education is expensive. Having said that parents do have the right within schools to insist that fee increases be approved by the permanent secretary, which is what is laid down in the law. If you are dissatisfied, you should attend fee meetings and register your objection.

“If, however, the required quorum is met and the required number of parents approves the increases, you are then stuck with that decision,” Coltart wrote on his website.

Private schools are charging fees ranging from US$930 to US$5 000 per term.

Last week, most government schools also increased tuition fees and levies with effect from next term citing rising costs of running the schools.

Schools such as Borrowdale Primary School increased fees from US$200 to US$250 and Marondera High from US$460 to US$570 per term.

Financial Gazette

By Tinashe Madava

4 May 2012

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, has lashed out at the members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, accusing them of incompetence.

This follows the tabling in Parliament of a report on the committee’s investigations into the primary and secondary schools Education Transition Fund (ETF) managed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Coltart has, in the past two years, laboured to defend the tender process, repeatedly explaining that this was donor money, managed by the said donors.

Responding to the committee’s report, Coltart said the parliamentarians had erred in their findings and lied to the august House.

Coltart has even posted some articles to defend himself on his website, where contributors have shown support for the senator.

“I think it goes without saying that all committees should conduct the affairs in an objective manner, in a transparent manner and fundamentally they need to be truthful with this Honourable House,” said Coltart.

He denied allegations of corruption saying that he was not involved in adjudication of the tenders and explained that UNICEF, who managed the project, were the ones responsible and used their own system. This was so because the money was donor money.

Coltart said the report “gives the impression it was Zimbabwean government money subject to Zimbabwe government tender procedures, which it was not. It was all donor money donated by Western governments and other organisations to the Education Transition Fund”.

The minister said the report does not mention the US$10 million that was saved through the price negotiations saying the MPs also failed to mention that several meetings were held with publishers to bring the price down.

“There are statements, for example, that the minister was involved in this process. It flies in the face of the facts. UN procurement processes are subject to international internal and external audit requirements,” explained Coltart.

The chairwoman of the committee, Dorothy Mangami, was not available for comment this week as her mobile phone could not be reached.

But The Financial Gazette has it on good authority that during the investigations, the portfolio committee had at one time even contemplated charging Coltart and his permanent secretary, Stephen Mahere, with contempt of Parliament charges. This, however, never happened.

The portfolio committee started investigations into the over US$60 million book tender after some local publishing and printing companies cried foul when they lost out to Longman. This prompted frantic efforts to have the process reversed.

But this was contrary to UNICEF’s stance. The tender, won by Longman Zimbabwe, was flighted under the ETF targeted at producing millions of textbooks for primary schools to improve the education system in the country. Secondary schools also benefited under the ETF.

“Because of the economies of scale, UNICEF was able to negotiate with publishers to procure textbooks for primary schools at a price that will allow, not only all primary schoolchildren to benefit, but will also be now expanded to Braille, minority languages, and secondary school,” says a statement on UNICEF’s website.

The ETF recently received another US$38 million for a second phase aimed at improving the education sector in the country. The funds, provided by UKAid, are expected to enhance and improve governance systems and training of teachers.”

Financial Gazette

By Tabitha Mutnega

27 April 2012

That Zimbabwe’s rural communities have annual school dropouts of over 300 000 children, a primary school pass rate of 28,9 percent as of last year and a secondary school completion rate of 40 percent is shocking to say the least.

In fact, it brings to question the country’s subscription to the universally accepted norm that: “Every child has a right to an education.”

In most rural communities, child care and education are under serious threat. Many unfortunate children face a bleak future because their parents or guardians lack the means to fund their education. Education infrastructure in most of the rural communities is also in a deplorable state, among a host of other challenges.

Trained teachers shun rural schools because of poor housing and lack of other amenities such as running water, electricity and accessible clinics.

For the rural child, poverty is real as many of their parents or guardians cannot afford providing them with school fees and even a decent meal.

The school dropout ratio is worse in the 700 satellite schools situated in the country’s resettlement areas.

Sadly, while these schools are the only alternative available, they are not legally recognised, which means that those children going through them are simply whiling up time.

Most of these satellite schools operate from tobacco bans, disused mine buildings and old chicken runs, mostly established during the fast-track land reform programme in 2000.

Children in these schools are exposed to extremely harsh learning conditions: No desks or chairs, no teachers.

Although some enterprising parents have built pole and dagga buildings as classrooms, some of these structures have no roofs, exposing learners to unfavourable weather conditions.

The state of these satellite schools highlights the extent of the deterioration suffered by Zimbabwe’s education sector.

Still, there is no guarantee that those parents or guardians who can afford to enrol their children in school today can see them through their education because of the frequent fee hikes.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general, Raymond Majongwe, said the steep fee increases were unacceptable, adding that the poor were the worst affected.

“A lot of parents cannot afford these fees, forcing children to drop out of school. Already they are creating a situation whereby those born poor will die poor,” he said.

“The prevailing situation is that education rewards those with money and condemns the poor to the abyss of uncertainty,” he added.

The PTUZ secretary-general described the situation in schools in rural communities as shocking.

He said it was the responsibility of the government to ensure that the satellite schools in resettlement areas have proper infrastructure, adequate learning facilities and qualified teachers in order to meet the United Nations set standards on education.

“It is unfortunate that the chaotic nature of the land reform programme created unplanned schools.

“However, these schools are there to service seriously disadvantaged communities.

“These schools are wanted and it is not the prerogative of the war veterans to determine who becomes headmaster or teacher in these schools,” Majongwe said, in reference to the former liberation war fighters who are chasing away teachers and headmasters/headmistresses perceived to be opposed to ZANU-PF.

According to the Zimbabwe Education Act, all children have the right to education. But in practice, education is not free since pupils are required to pay tuition fees as well as development levies: Education has therefore become a preserve for those who can afford it or those who are lucky to get scholarships or bursaries.

While tuition fees in government schools have been generally low, development levies at times have proved to be a deterrent to children keen on accessing education.

In his 2011 National Budget Statement, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, indicated that there was a dropout rate of eight percent in 2010 among children between six and 17 years because parents failed to pay fees for their children.

The Food Security and Livelihoods Project Baseline Survey Report 2010 undertaken by Oxfam and focussing on Chirumanzu, Gutu and Zvishavane Districts shows that the main reason for non-school attendance in the districts was due to lack of finance.

Discussions with key informants at the Chirumanzu Rural District Council revealed that lack of money for school fees has pushed some young school going girls into prostitution as a means to paying school fees and buying food.

Recently, the Education, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart warned that the level of poverty in Matabeleland North Province was alarming as students were being crowded out of university opportunities because of a breakdown in education infrastructure.

On average, 20 pupils share a single desk in the province while 17 sit on a single bench and about 40 percent of children learn under trees because of the shortage of classrooms.

Not only do these children have to endure walking long distances, they also face severe food shortages because of perennial summer season crop failures.

Social commentator, Tawanda Zata, said in a country were rural families are faced with food shortages it was unavoidable that children were forced to drop out of school largely because of poverty.

“The Education Minister, David Coltart, has to be commended for working flat out to ensure that the 1:50 text book ratio is changed to 1:1 but some things are beyond his ministry. It means government has to prioritise the education of the future leaders of Zimbabwe. Instead, they concentrate on accusing the very same person who is trying to provide a future for the Zimbabwean child ,” Zata said.

The Zimbabwe Reads Survey indicates that: “If current conditions continue, Zimbabwe will have a literacy rate of 70 percent in 2020. At this stage, it seems unlikely that Zimbabwe still has the highest literacy rate in Africa of 90 percent, with the more reliable estimates from Botswana (85 percent) and Tunisia (87 percent)”.

What is more disturbing is the observation by Zimbabwe Reads where it said about 15 percent of the country’s children never enter the school system while a further 30 percent never make it to secondary schools.

The Daily Activist

23 April 2012

Reports of virginity testing performed on young Zimbabwean schoolgirls have been met with criticism from women’s and children’s rights groups who are decrying the practice as a violation of dignity and respect. The tests were carried out on Grade 7 girls at Tsetse primary school without parental consent; parents have claimed that “the Child Protection Committee and the teachers threatened to beat up the pupils if they did not reveal whom they have slept with.”

Linda Valerie Guzha, the Zimbabwe Programme Director for Days for Girls, has termed the process of virginity testing on girls as “taking 10 steps back in empowering women.” Guzha has also expressed concern regarding the consequences of carrying out such tests: “taunting, stigmatisation, and bullying are to come into effect which may lead to serious incidences such as suicide amongst young girls.”

While the Minister for Education, Sports, Arts, and Culture, David Coltart, has stated that such practices run against official government policy, this fails to answer the question of why such actions would have been sanctioned by school officials. With women’s rights subject to an uphill battle in Zimbabwe, the decision to invoke virginity testing as an attempt to “curb immoral behaviour before marriage” is one aspect of a much broader narrative.

To truly eliminate the belief that rights violations such as these are prohibited, the government must take concrete steps in altering the underlying narrative. They must affirm, through both policy and practice, the equality of women and girls; until this is accepted as fact, practices that demean the position of females will continue to find a place in Zimbabwean society. The process of change will be a slow one but there is no denying that the results would be well worth the effort.

• Interesting afternoon at a school in Mitchell's Plain, Cape Town – much has changed for the better since I was last in Crossroads in 1982 #

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• Oosthuizen's putt lips out for eagle on the 13th – great shot – Africa rooting for you! Gets birdie and a 2 shot lead. Calmness personified! #
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• Golf at its very best – two great competitors but still rooting for Louis. This does so much to keep Africa on the map. #
• Louis turns to Bubba and says "great shot" after both have stunning shots to the 18th green – makes us all proud to be Southern African #
• Have South Africans ever won the Masters back to back? If not here's hoping this will be the first. Louis has definite advantage over Bubba #
• Bubba hits a miracle shot – hard to believe that he could get to the green from that position. Game on! #
• Should be Bubba's now but great golf from Louis – made us proud. #

The Zimbabwean

By Fungi Kwaramba

11 April 2012

Perched on bricks under umbrella-shaped savanna trees children at Estridge satellite primary school 15 km from Chinhoyi children try to learn.

When it rains some do not turn up. For most the school is far away from their resettled homes.

Winter normally sees a massive drop in attendances as children, who have only a few ragged clothes, shy away from the biting cold.

Estridge is one of 701 schools that sprouted following President Robert Mugabe’s land “reform” programme begun at the turn of the century.

A thematic committee of Parliamentarians on Millennium Development Goals, which has been studying satellite schools since 2010, said that for the past 10 years, children uprooted from commercial farming communities had “been condemned to such a harsh learning environment and until something miraculous or dramatic happens, a dark cloud is cast over their future.”

Indeed it’s a bleak future that threatens the country’s chances of meeting the MDGs according to Education Minister David Coltart.

“In rural and urban areas the dropout ratio is still very high. Last year we estimated that at least 300 000 children not covered by BEAM (Basic Education Assistance Module) could not attend school because they had no school fees,” said Coltart.

The situation is worse at satellite schools which are not legally recognized.

“The problem is particularly acute in satellite schools because the government did not plan for these schools. They were established in response to the land reform programme,” said Coltart.

“There are no buildings at the schools, there are no teachers in fact there is no infrastructure at all. At present government simply does not have the resources so it will be difficult to meet the MDGs,” he said.

Gift Muti the Secretary General of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe said children in such communities have been condemned to a life of farm labouring “There are no schools at the farms and in the few instances where they are found the situation is so deplorable that most children drop out and join their parents as labourers. Most of the so-called new farmers do not prioritize education but regard children as a source of cheap labour,” said Muti.

The vicious cycle of poverty continues as most of the kids do not have national registration documents as their parents are often of foreign descent. They cannot progress beyond primary school as there are no secondary schools and also most of them do not have birth certificates required to register for examinations,” said Muti.

The committee urged the government to amend the Citizenship Act so as “to address the challenges being faced by people whose ancestors classified as aliens.”

Radio VOP
8 April 2012

Three-times Comrades marathon winner, Stephen Muzhingi won the 2012 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon Saturday taking home the R250 000 prize money.

The Zimbabwean athlete crossed the line in a time of 3:08.

Henry Moyo from Malawi came second in a time of 3:08.35, while another Zimbabwean Collen Makaza was third after crossing the line in a time of 3:08.45.

In the women’s category Russian Elena Nurgalieva powered home in a time of 3:41.55 ahead of her compatriot Natalia Volgina who came second in a time of3:45.29. Zimbabwe’s Samukeliso Moyo came fifth in a time of 3:49.10.

A record 25 000 runners took part in this year’s Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, with some 16 000 of those running the half-marathon. Runners from 78different countries entered the race, confirming the international interest inthe Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon.

The race is run for 56km.

The Zimbabwean became the first man since Derek Preiss in 1974 to hold the Comrades and Two Oceans titles at the same time.

An elated Muzhingi said the race is part of his build up to the Comrades Marathon coming up later this year.

“I was going fora time, and I knew that it was a time good enough for victory,” he was quotedas saying.

Muzhingi’s victory was celebrated by Zimbabweans with congratulatory messages pouring in on the social networking site, Twitter.

Zimbabwe’s top swimmer Kirsty Coventry tweeted: “Great to wake up and hear @StephenMuzhingi won the two oceans marathon. Very well done!”

David Coltart, Education, Art and Sports ministers tweeted: “Stephen Muzhingi’s triumph in the Two Oceans today is quite remarkable – running a marathon is completely different to Comrades. Well done!”

• I am delighted by Aung San Suu Kyi's apparent victory in Burma's elections today. Hope for Burma from a brave, principled lady. Makorokoto! #
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  I've all the riches I can hold
  I'm a beggar
  Sitting on a beach of gold"
  Mike & Mechanics – Happy Easter all #
• So it looks as if Africa may have another woman President in Joyce Banda of Malawi. Can only be good for Africa to have more! #
• Hearty congratulations to Stephen Muzhingi for winning the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town today. Does this mean he is ready for Olympics? #
• Stephen Muzhingi's triumph in the Two Oceans today is quite remarkable – running a marathon is completely different to Comrades. Well done!! #
• Bravo Glasgow Celtic for winning the Scottish SPL title. #
• http://t.co/p37nJxc3 Muzhingi is the first to hold both the Comrades and Two Oceans since 1974 – Makorokoto – doing Zimbabwe proud. #
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• Full of fear women bowed as men said "Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here, he has been raised" Luke 24/5 #