Sunday News

8 January 2012

The Minster of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture has said his ministry will make full use of a new law to flush out all corrupt elements in the administration and use of funds meant for education, in an effort to bring normalcy to the sector.

In an interview with the Sunday News on Friday last week, Senator David Coltart said his ministry was not tolerating any corrupt tendencies.

“We need to adopt zero tolerance of abuse of school funds and anyone caught on the wrong side will face the full wrath of the law,” said Senator Coltart.

The Ministry of Education has implemented the Public Finance Management Act (PMFA), which replaces the old Audit and Exchequer Act so as to make school heads and anyone who handles these funds accountable for the finances.

“The PFMA will assist the education sector by bringing about more accountability. It ensures that ministers have more responsibility in ensuring that a ministry’s finances are correctly spent,” said Senator Coltart.

The main effect of the PFMA is that the minister has to be consulted before monies are spent. In the past civil servants had a virtual free hand in deciding how budgeted monies would be spent within the broad parameters of the National Budget.

The minister said school heads were not the only culprits in the abuse of funds as there were corrupt individuals in the highest levels of Government.

“Aside from the fact that this is taxpayers’ money which is being abused we cannot allow our future generations to be taught by those who are themselves corrupt, what sort of example does that set for the future?” he said.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr Stephen Mahere, said the Act is meant to provide for the control of public resources.

“The Act is intended to provide for the control, management, protection and recovery of public resources. The Act also provides for the regulation o f control of public accounts and for matters pertaining to the financial misconduct by public officials,” said Dr Mahere.

He said it is in the interest of public officials, school heads and finance managers included, to acquaint themselves with the provisions of the Act.

He also warned those that got away with money and other resources without being noticed in previous years that this was a different year where the ministry will take full account of all resources.

In 2011 alone there were several cases of funds being embezzled by school heads and other officials in the Ministry of Education, compromising education standards.

Incompetent school authorities and school development associations have stalled development in many Government schools.

The minister said the biggest project foe 2012 would be the delivery of 8 million textbooks to all secondary schools countrywide.

“We want to deliver 8 million textbooks to all secondary schools in Zimbabwe and we will also start the rehabilitation of sanitary facilities in schools. I hope that the new education regulations will counter the lawlessness which prevails in many schools,” he said.

He said the curriculum review process will get underway and hopes there will be a transformation of certain schools into academies.

The Standard

By Nunurai Jena

8 January 2012

An increasing number of pupils with hearing problems in Mashonaland West province are not attending school due to lack of resources and the absence of specialist teachers, The Standard has heard.

Parents and guardians of children with hearing impairments said their children have not been going to school because there were no teachers proficient in sign language.

They said those that go to school are usually isolated and discriminated against by their peers. Isabel Chitate of Lion’s Den in Mashonaland West province is both bitter and upset. Her only granddaughter, Charity, cannot proceed with her education due to lack of qualified teachers at Murereka Primary School.

“They accepted her at the school for two terms, but withdrew her because there are no teachers who can teach her,” said Chitate. “They advised me to seek assistance from Jairos Jiri but I could not go there because I don’t have the money.”

Jairos Jiri Association is a philanthropic organisation set up in 1950 to support and train disadvantaged people, including children. Another parent, who only identified herself as Mai Tariro from Gadzema, a high-density suburb in Chinhoyi, said she had also been struggling to find a place for her child with a hearing disability.

She said could not send her child to a special school like Emerald Hill in Harare, because the high fees charged by specialist institutions were beyond her reach.

Fortunately, Sinoia Primary School, which is in the same town, has started a special class for hearing-impaired children and she hopes to enroll Tariro at the institution beginning this term. At first, said Mai Tariro, she was reluctant to have her child exposed to others as she feared stigmatisation.

Mai Tariro said sign language must be taught to all pupils so that affected children can easily communicate with their peers. She appealed to the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to equip every trainee teacher with the necessary skills to manage and educate hearing-impaired pupils.

Very few teachers choose to speciliase in fields like sign language after graduating from college or university. Mashonaland West Chairperson of the Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped, Tichaona Mlauzi, said there was a growing need for mainstreaming sign language in schools. He said his organisation was lobbying to have sign language recognised as an official language.

It is estimated that 300 pupils have hearing impairments in Mashonaland West province.

‘Ministry fighting to assist disabled pupils’

Education minister David Coltart said his ministry was trying by all means to assist not only pupils with a hearing impairment, but all those with any form of disability. He however, added that such efforts were being curtailed by shortage of funds.

“The situation is dire on the ground,” said Coltart. “As long as we get little funds from government, such children will continue to be affected.”

In a bid to improve accessibility of education to pupils with hearing impairments, the government in 2010 put in place a policy that compels all schools to have a special class for children with disabilities.

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Radio VOP

7 January 2012

Government colleges and schools who have been warned against increasing tuition fees have ordered students to bring their own groceries when schools open next week.

Earlier this week the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said there will be no increase in fees structures for all Government schools.

“I am aware that parents have been threatened with fee hikes from all angles but a decision has been made. We therefore expect all schools to abide by that decision as we will deal with those who will choose to go against this,” said Coltart.

Students at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo College who reside on the campus have been told to bring their own groceries to augment the low fees they are paying.

Part of a letter addressed to the students reads, “Those who will reside at the campus should bring 20kg Beef, 4kg salt , four rolls of tissue paper, 20kg mealie meal(pearlenta/ngwerengwere), 10 sachets Royco,” among other items.

However health experts fear that the move to order students to bring fresh products such as beef to college could result in some bringing poisoned food.

“Some of the students at the college travel for two days from their respective homes to get to college and there is likelihood that some of the meat could be stale before it reaches its destination a situation likely to cause serious health problems,” said Themba Ncube a senior nurse at Gwanda Hospital.

Although authorities at Joshua Nkomo Polytechnic refused to speak to Radio VOP a lecturer at the college who requested anonymity said the move to order pupils to bring their own food was necessitated by the low fees being charged at the college.

“The tuition fees are just too low for the upkeep of students for three months and hence when they bring their own food it becomes better,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s education system once a shinning beacon in the African continent has over the years plummeted to lowest levels as the country struggles to recover from a decade long economic turmoil.

Nehanda Radio

By Moses Chamboko

6 January 2012

End of year ministerial appraisals by two independent newspapers made interesting reading. While some ratings sounded correct, others were seemingly way out of sync with general sentiment.

In future, it might be a good idea to consult far and wide before circulating these ratings if they are to be taken seriously. Ostensibly resorting to views of an anonymous “Review Board” smacks of shenanigans.

Subjectivity and inadequacy of process aside, the most outstanding aspect was that younger ministers generally performed way better than their most experienced counterparts.

Of course, spoiling this generalisation was none other than Saviour Kasukuwere who competed with most of career ministers for the bottom position. That this dismal performer belongs to a known party does not come as a surprise at all.

One other observation that came out of the appraisals is that it is probably time to start thinking seriously about merging, phasing out or disbanding some of the ministries. In a country where there is an ICT ministry as well as one for Higher Education, one wonders why we need another full ministry for Science and Technology.

The “T” in ICT actually stands for “Technology” while the science function could be a small department under Higher Education or another ministry. The same applies to the Women’s Affairs ministry. This can easily be a department under the ministry of Public Service and Social Welfare or any other.

That the ministers responsible for these two portfolios which are perfect candidates for a downgrade are said to have performed dismally, may not be a mere coincidence. It appears some ministers don’t even fully understand their mandate.

Consequently, a very good number of them are now part-time ministers with full-time benefits which include luxurious vehicles and multiple farms.

A few who might still be willing to perform may be incapacitated by a lack of political will or unavailability of financial resources. Not because of sanctions or Biti but because of misappropriation, mismanagement and looting, a case in point being Chiadzwa.

Given the prevailing economic climate which is tough by any measure, can somebody please explain what the ministry of Housing and Social Amenities is meant to deliver? Wasn’t this ministry a direct product of the Tsholotsho fiasco, cunningly designed to appease but keep in check the godfather of Dinyane?

In the military, it would be the equivalence of the commissioners’ pool. I would suggest that this be appended as a department to the Local Government ministry, assuming it hasn’t served its purpose. The so-called Review Board either neglected or is unaware of the existence of deputy ministers. Why didn’t we hear anything about these leaders?

Giving the example of only one ministry, one would have been forgiven for thinking that at Justice, Chinamasa was the deputy while visible, energetic and focused Obert Gutu was the full minister.

We only heard of Chinamasa when it was time for the perpetual negotiations or a moment for the SMM saga. Such is the kind of ministers we have!

In parliament, Settlement Chikwinya and Edward Chindori-Chininga were outstanding. These two MPs ensured that the august house was not reduced to a napping room.

Chikwinya reminded us of the good old days of Lazarus Nzarayebani, Sydney Malunga or Hebert Ushewokunze by fearlessly introducing crucial motions such as dismissal of Austin Zvoma as well as reformation of the security sector.

Of course, we did not see a return to the days of the firebrand trio of Eddison Zvobgo, Edgar Tekere and Byron Hove but it was a step in the right direction.

On the other hand, Chindori-Chininga demonstrated that portfolio committees were created for a reason when he presided over the SMM hearings. For this, I’ve no doubt he did not receive a Christmas card nor chocolate fish from Patrick Chinamasa.

While there is no doubt that Henry Madzorera, David Coltart and Walter Mzembi were indeed a cut above the rest, the typically low rating given to Tendai Biti raises some questions.

By clipping Dr. Casino’s long wings, the finance minister brought back some semblance of sanity into the two critical spheres of fiscal and monetary policy management.

It is primarily this bold move coupled with dollarization that became the anchor of economic stabilisation.  From that stabilisation, critical sectors such as health, education and tourism were revived. Tendai Biti’s low rating is malicious or at least misplaced.

Some of you will recall that the Finance Ministry was once run like “a funeral parlour” to use Gushungo’s diction when he chided Murerwa at some forum in Botswana. In less than three years, that has now been turned around. We no longer have a president or central bank governor doubling up as finance minister.

As for Goche, unlike Hebert Ushewokunze who once earned the title “Minister of Air Zimbabwe”, courtesy of Byron Hove, this career minister proved that Air Zimbabwe does not need a minister or should be transferred to a different ministry altogether. If I had my way, I would donate it to Tourism if ICT is too distant.

Now that he has set the bar so high despite his youthfulness, our expectation for 2012 is that Nelson “Supersonic” Chamisa will make common but useful documents such as passport forms downloadable online while internet banking is embraced by all financial institutions including POSB.

Every child who passes through our education system should be able to differentiate between a mouse and a keyboard in addition to having other basic skills such as use of the internet and MS Office.

Zimbabweans should not queue to pay utility bills when this can be done at the click of a mouse or on iPhone. Pay days should not be synonymous with long queues at banks when people can use plastic money for most transactions. This will propel us into the global family of technology.

May those rated the worst performers lift their game in 2012, retire, resign or be relieved of their duties before Easter!  Let Zimbabwe move forward.

ZimEye

5 January 2012

Education and Sport Minister David Coltart, said that he is now working with other stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance on modalities of paying a rural allowance.

“The matter has been discussed in Cabinet and all the colleagues (ministers) were sympathetic with the rural teachers,” Minister Coltart said.

“We agreed that Government should deal with the imbalances existing between urban and rural teachers and the solution lies in a rural allowance for the educators.

“Everyone understands the financial constraints facing the Finance Minister (Tendai Biti) but solutions have to be found to the problems affecting the education sector as it is the backbone of every developing nation.”

Minister Coltart said teachers’ incentives will stay in the first term, which begins on Tuesday, while ways to improve civil servants’ conditions of service were being sought.

He said the state of the economy made it difficult for the Government to increase salaries for teachers.

“Nothing has changed economically and it is common knowledge that incentives have a discriminatory effect, but salaries have to be improved first,” he said.

“The picture coming from Treasury shows that there won’t be any reasonable salary increments for the workers hence the decision to keep incentives and advocate rural allowances.”

Minister Coltart expressed hope that Government will review the salaries upwards and scrap incentives.

Government, teachers unions and other stakeholders agreed during last year’s all-stakeholders’ conference that incentives must be scrapped this year.
This was in anticipation of a salary hike in 2012 National Budget.

But, Minister Biti only managed to move the tax-free threshold by US$25 from US$225, but did not provide for a salary increment.

A series of meetings by stakeholders in the education sector were held last year over incentives after teachers at some schools went on strike.

It was generally agreed that incentives had caused chaos in the education sector.

A Victoria High School headmaster was last year assaulted by parents and pupils over incentives, while disturbances took place at some schools over the administration of the money.

VOA

By Violet Gonda

5 January 2012

Union leaders say the government, which has been pleading bankruptcy to avoid giving civil servants a salary hike, is being insincere, especially after agreeing to pay lawmakers $15,000 dollars each in backdated allowances.

Teachers’ unions in Zimbabwe have threatened a nationwide strike next week that may prevent schools from re-opening, accusing the government of dragging its feet over salary negotiations.

The unions say government, which has been pleading bankruptcy to avoid giving civil servants a salary hike, is being insincere, especially after agreeing to pay lawmakers $15,000 dollars apiece in backdated sitting allowances.

In total, government will fork out about $2 million for the allowances.

Government employees want their salaries adjusted in line with the country’s poverty datum line which would see the least paid civil servant earning about $540 up from $253.

But they have yet to get a response from their employer since submitting proposals last month. A meeting was said to have been slotted for Friday with the combative unions.

Meanwhile, Education Minister David Coltart dismissed reports by the state-run Herald newspaper that rural teachers were set to get 20 percent in allowances to cover for incentives being given their counterparts in the urban areas.

Coltart told VOA’s Violet Gonda that he was misquoted by the newspaper and that there has been no decision made in cabinet.

“Whilst we have asked for rural allowances to be paid,” Coltart said, “there is no agreement in that regard and I would not want my colleagues in the trade union movement or teachers to suffer from any misrepresentation.”

He stressed: “We believe that rural allowances need to be introduced but where the Herald said they were going to be introduced immediately, and used the figure of 20 percent, I am afraid that was wrong.”

Secretary-General Raymond Majongwe of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe or PTUZ said while they welcome initiatives to ease the suffering of rural teachers, government must avoid overburdening struggling parents.

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association Chief Executive Sifiso Ndlovu said the education ministry has not discussed the rural teacher incentives with them.

PTUZ President Takavafira Zhou said there was a lot of mistrust between the state and unions representing civil servants, charging the government is negotiating in bad faith and is arrogant.

“We reach very progressive ideas with the ministry (of education), particularly with the minister but it falls short on implementation, where it involves other ministries,” Zhou said.

NewsDay

By Bridgette Bugalo

3 January 2012

The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture says government will continue to provide free Grade Seven examinations as part of its policy to ensure equal access to education.

In an interview with NewsDay yesterday, Education minister David Coltart said the review of the examination fees was done annually in line with government policy to improve the performance of the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec).

“Grade Seven examinations will continue to be free, while Ordinary Level and Advanced Level examinations will be slightly increased,” he said.

Coltart said the review was done to make Zimsec viable as much as Cambridge was.

“Zimsec examination reviews have been necessitated by that we have to make Zimsec commercially viable. If we look at Cambridge fees, it costs $40 per subject while our charges are way below Cambridge charges. This has, therefore, not made us run Zimsec as efficiently as I would like it to run,” he said.

Coltart said recent examination fees reviews applied to all government-run schools.

“Examination fees in Zimbabwe will never go as far as those of Cambridge, but they will continue to rise gradually,” he said.

Coltart said tuition fees would not go up, but would remain stable.

“Ordinary Level examination fees will go up $1 from $11 to $12 per subject while Advanced Level examination fees will increase from $22 to $24 per subject.”

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The Standard 

By Brian Nkiwane

31 December 2011 

In the year 1999, a couple sat down in their bedroom to discuss their future. What the two agreed on was to start a sport academy which was going to put Checheche (a rural area in Chipinge) on the world map. They named the academy Chawira Sports Academy and today the academy has grown from strength to strength to become one of the best player-producing academies in the country.

Notable names that have come through the ranks of the academy are former Chapungu United and Dynamos striker Phillip Marufu and Dynamos defence stalwart Mathew Mahala.

The uniqueness of Chawira Sports Academy stems from its rural setting in the deep end of Checheche, a rural area in Chipinge. It competes well with urban-based academies the likes of Aces Youth Academy which has seen the production of players such as Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona who have become cornerstones of the current Warriors set up.

Silas Chawira and his wife Daisy Bhasera are the brains behind Chawira Sports Academy which started as a talent identification organisation in 1999 but has now grown into an organisation which is creating employment for a number of school leavers in the area.

Apart from being an employment platform for youngsters, the academy has produced big names in our football circles.

According to Chawira, their pioneer students were recruited in 2000 where they invited Air Force of Zimbabwe members from Chegutu who took 13 boys for trials.

The first recruitment included Jimmy Mlambo who is now turning for lower division outfit Coca-Cola in Zvishavane, Mutamba Chamisa (Triangle, goalkeeper), Clifford Makaya (Mkwasine), all in Division One.

The boys were rewarded with employment in the force and played for the Air Force side Brumble, which was in Division Two and got promoted into First Division that same year.

The franchise was later sold to Guni United and most of the players left the club as they were not ready to go back to the unfashionable world of Division Two.

The second intake was in 2001 at Katanga School in Chipinge. The group produced a number of names that include hot-shot Marufu whom many think comes from Gweru.

The group had other players like Freddy Manjoro, Eddie Mlambo, Iden Khumbula and Nomatter Munkuli who have become big names in different Division One leagues in the country.

Their third recruitment in 2003 had players such as Mahala.

Like any other business, the academy faced an economic meltdown forcing them to stop recruiting in 2008. The situation got worse forcing Chawira to join the great track in search for the elusive Rand in South Africa in 2009.

When things started shaping up, Chawira bounced back to re-launch the project with a Chawira football tournament which was won by Takawira Secondary School last year.

According to Chawira, the academy has agreed with Takawira Secondary School that they will bring all their academy students at the school to polish up combinations as they look forward to coming up with a formidable team that will continue channeling out talent into the big league.

“We have discovered that even the junior selection criteria used by national team coaches are not all encompassing, so we are trying to say national team coaches must make use of academies to identify talent for national assignments. Again I appeal to the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart to look at other projects that are being run in rural areas that keep children out of dubious activities and make them function in a proper way.

“I was pleased to learn that there are people like Desmond Ali who take part of their earnings and direct it to football development. We might be older than Ali Sundowns but we have one or two things that we learn from Ali,” he added.