Chronicle

16 December 2010

By Chronicle Reporter

THE Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture has engaged an education expert to review and reform the country’s curriculum.

In an interview, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart said the move was taken following a realisation that the country’s education curriculum was last reviewed in the mid-80s.

“The education curriculum was last reviewed in the mid 1980s and this review process culminated from the strategic plan document which was drafted in conjunction with various partners in the education sector,” said Minister Coltart.

He said the strategic plan was approved by the Government three months ago.

He said the ministry had seen it fit to engage academics to assist in reforming the curriculum.

“The first stage that we have to take is to engage an expert to give us advice before we start. We have engaged Professor Josiah Tlou, from Matabeleland South, a Professor of education in the United States of America on a three-month contract.

“He has been speaking to other experts in the country’s education sector to map the way forward,” said Minister Coltart.

He said the country’s curriculum had not been updated in line with technological advancements such as information technology, which he said had to be included in the new curriculum.

“Computers have applications to all subjects and this is one of the areas that has to be reviewed. Very few schools, especially in the rural areas, teach vocational oriented subjects which are very important in the education curriculum,” said Minister Coltart.

He said the new curriculum would include academic, vocational and social education as a way of widening knowledge in pupils.

“Every single subject will be reviewed and we will also look at including civic education, human rights, non-violent resolution of conflicts and domestic violence,” said Minister Coltart.

http://www.apanews.net

15 December 2010

Zimbabwe is one of two southern African countries represented at the ongoing World Black Arts Festival taking place in Dakar, the country’s ambassador to Senegal, Trudy Stevenson said in a statement issued here Thursday.

Eight Zimbabwean sculptors and painters are exhibiting various stone sculptures and paintings at the Zimbabwean embassy in Dakar and at the main festival venue at the Biscuiterie.

Stevenson said she has presented two lectures on contemporary Zimbabwean art since the festival started on December 10.

“The embassy held a very successful preview exhibition for the diplomatic community and media on 1 December,” she said.

The artists whose works are being exhibited are Lazarus Takawira, Taylor Nkomo, Thakor Patel, Lovemore Kambudzi, Virginia Chihota, Victor Fire, Gideon Gomo and Tapfuma Gutsa.

Zimbabwe’s Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart is being represented by a senior official from his ministry while the exhibitions are being coordinated by Harare’s National Gallery and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

South Africa is the other southern African country participating at the festival which ends on December 31.

Daily News

15 December 2010

HARARE – The U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles A. Ray has published his 9th book entitled Where You Come From Matters Less Than Where You Are Going.

The book is meant for young people to develop their leadership capacity.

Speaking at the Mannenberg Café in Harare during the launch on Tuesday, Ambassador Ray said.

“For you young people, the current and future leaders of Zimbabwe, I hope that this book will encourage, exhort and inspire you as you press on in the goals that you have for both yourself and your country.

I also hope that it serves as a reminder to you of the things that matter most in life — not what you do, but how you go about doing it; not who you say you are, but who you are when no one else is watching; not where you come from, but where you are going.”

The book consists of 21 short essays written by the Ambassador in 2010. Each essay is followed by questions or quotes meant to provoke discussion and debate on the issue.

Topics include, “The Important of Core Values,” “What is Justice?”, “To Serve and Protect,” and “Citizen Participation Leads to Good Governance.” Many of the essays have already been published in local media as opinion pieces or letters to the editor. The book was published by the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section and will be distributed at no cost to youth groups, libraries, schools and interested readers.

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart who attended the launch had this to say on the book: “Often Ambassadors are reserved and it is hard for Zimbabweans to fully understand what makes them tick. Ambassador Ray through his writings has revealed a person who cares very deeply about the human condition and about many of the issues which confront us in Zimbabwe.

It is wonderful that he has been able to show that these problems are not unique to Zimbabwe. His wisdom that has been created in part through his wide ranging experience also provides some useful ways to resolve them.”

Newsday

By Khanyile Mlotshwa

15 December 2010

Calling for elections next year could isolate Zimbabwe from the region which has helped deliver it out of a decade-long economic, political and social problems, the MDC-M secretary for legal affairs, David Coltart, has said.

Coltart told a constituency roundtable that according to the Global Political Agreement (GPA), there were still seven issues that remained to be dealt with before the country could hold elections.

“The GPA sets out ten stages that have to take place. The reality is that we have only been through three stages and we are left with seven.

“The GPA says between the second constitutional reform stakeholders’ conference and the referendum, there is a period of five months. We are not anywhere near even holding the second stakeholders’ conference. After the referendum, there has to be two months before it (the constitution) becomes law,” he said.

Coltart said if the election was to be held next year, it would not be in compliance with the GPA.

“We will have to tear up the GPA. Professor (Welshman) Ncube (MDC secretary-general) says the earliest time we can have a referendum is June next year. That is in six months from now. I think he is being sensible. That means it’s not possible to have elections next year.

“If we have it (the election), it will be against the spirit of the GPA. The party that pushes for the election will be going against (South African) President (Jacob) Zuma and other brokers of the GPA,” he said.

The GPA was signed in September 2008 after months of protracted negotiations led by the then South African President Thabo Mbeki, and was hailed as an African solution to an African problem.

The South African President, Sadc and the African Union are the guarantors of the GPA.

Zanu PF and MDC-T have called for the holding of elections next year to dissolve the GPA, which both parties felt has become a weight on their necks.

MDC-M led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has insisted conditions were not conducive for the holding of the elections next year.

“One of the key constitutional question concerns the separation of powers and the electoral system to be used during elections. If we follow the Westminster system, where if a candidate wins in a constituency they become the MP, then it’s easier to hold elections early.

“However, if we have a proportional representation system or the hybrid system that Zanu PF is proposing, there is a challenge of delimiting constituencies. You can only start delimiting constituencies if you know what type of system you have,” Coltart said.

Coltart said it was worrying that at the moment there was a lot of rhetoric about the elections despite the problems that such a plebiscite would cause. “There is a lot of talk about elections next year which would be the breaking-up of the GPA. It means divorce of the parties. No one denies that elections should take place, but the questions are: are the conditions conducive for an election and is it possible to have this election and still stick to this roadmap (GPA)?

“If you speak to churches, they don’t want elections because the country is at a point where it is slowly healing. If you speak to businesspeople, Zanu PF organised a meeting with businesspeople last week, they don’t want an election,” he said.

Coltart said the inclusive government was fragile but remained the best way forward for the country and that was why the parties were sticking to it.

“It is a fragile agreement and we should not be surprised by this. In this arrangement everyone came kicking and screaming. No one wanted it but there was no option. However what is remarkable is that we are still in this marriage, 21 months on.

“Despite our reservations about this arrangement, we are now better off. Schools are now open, clinics are open, and airports are being repaired. The country is moving forward,” he said.

Chronicle

14 December 2010

By Fungai Muderere

THE 2010 edition of the annual Ibumba International Arts Festival, which rolls into life tonight at Stanley Square, is going to be officially opened by Senator David Coltart.

Sen Coltart is the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.

At a press conference yesterday, the director of the festival , Simon Mambazo Phiri said all was set for the festival.

“The festival is going to be officially opened tomorrow night by Senator David Coltart. The official opening ceremony shall see a special show with Siyaya, Amawumbo, Ingwenyama, Kwabatsha and Tumbuka,” said Phiri.

He said there is going to be an opening gala that would see the country’s celebrated artists that include Jeys Marabini, Willis Wataffi, , Africa Directions and the man of the moment , Winky D take to the stage with their various art productions from the top drawer.

“After the official opening of the festival, we are also going to have an opening gala at the Main Arena. The likes of Willis Wataffi, Jeys Marabini, , Africa Directions and Winky D will perform at the gala,” he said.

Sunduza , All Stars provided some value entertainment at the press conference with their accapella tunes that were sung with a lot of dexterity hence setting the tone for yet another ,Ibumba International Arts Festival to remember.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that the festival will have a limited number of international participants due to financial and logistical reasons, chief among them being the new festival guidelines that were recently crafted by the , National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ).

The spokesperson for Siyaya, the organisers of the festival, Nkululeko Nkala, said because of financial constraints and other logistical problems, emphasis would be on artistes from around the country and Africa.

“We are going heavily on regionally recognised acts and artistes as we do not have enough funds as a festival to bring acts from Europe. The new censorship board and the , NACZguidelines on festivals also did not give us enough time to get artistes here on time,” said Nkala.

However, Phiri said they were very grateful to their sponsors Culture Fund, , Savannah Tobacco and Sabela Music Projects among others.

.

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http://www.redroom.com

Issued by the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section

14 December 2010

Harare, December 14, 2010 – U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles A. Ray, tonight released his 9th book, a collection of essays on leadership, life and lessons learned, entitled Where You Come From Matters Less Than Where You Are Going.

Speaking at the Mannenberg in Harare during the launch, Ambassador Ray noted, “For you young people, the current and future leaders of Zimbabwe, I hope that this book will encourage, exhort and inspire you as you press on in the goals that you have for both yourself and your country. I also hope that it serves as a reminder to you of the things that matter most in life — not what you do, but how you go about doing it; not who you say you are, but who you are when no one else is watching; not where you come from, but where you are going.”

The book consists of 21 short essays written by the Ambassador in 2010. Each essay is followed by questions or quotes meant to provoke discussion and debate on the issue. Topics include, “The Important of Core Values,” “What is Justice?”, “To Serve and Protect,” and “Citizen Participation Leads to Good Governance.” Many of the essays have already been published in local media as opinion pieces or letters to the editor. The book was published by the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section and will be distributed at no cost to youth groups, libraries, schools and interested readers.

Senator David Coltart, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, commented that,
“Often Ambassadors are reserved and it is hard for Zimbabweans to fully understand what makes them tick. Ambassador Ray through his writings has revealed a person who cares very deeply about the human condition and about many of the issues which confront us in Zimbabwe. It is wonderful that he has been able to show that these problems are not unique to Zimbabwe. His wisdom that has been created in part through his wide ranging experience also provides some useful ways to resolve them.”

Comments and queries should be addressed to Sharon Hudson-Dean, Public Affairs Officer. E-mail: hararepas@state.gov

BBC

14 December 2010

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Sport, David Coltart, has called for a police investigation into claims of match-fixing made against the national team.

Zimbabwe players and officials have admitted being paid to throw matches on a trip to Thailand and Malaysia.

They made the admissions in sworn testimony to an enquiry held by the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa).

The allegations of match-fixing centred on a tour where Zimbabwe lost 3-0 to Thailand and 6-0 to Syria.

Minister Coltart told the AP news agency that Zifa “must initiate [a] police investigation right now” because of what he called “very serious allegations”.

But the Zifa President Cuthbert Dube said that no action had yet been taken because the investigation had widened to take in a previous trip to Asia in 2007.

The Chief Executive of Zifa, Henrietta Rushwaya, was fired in October, having been accused of failing to account for a loan made to Zifa of US$103 000 and authorising a 2008 trip to Malaysia where elite club Monomotapa masqueraded as the Zimbabwe national team.

She is hoping to be exonerated through the government’s labour court where her case has yet to be concluded.

The BBC’s Steve Vickers in Harare says that the sports minister’s call for the police to take action is not a surprise given the extent of the findings of the Zifa inquiry into match-fixing, and that Zifa itself has still not handed out bans to the players who are implicated.

Chronicle

14 December 2010

By Sukulwenkosi Dube

EVERY day thousands of children leave their homes for school to acquire education. Parents hope that their children are getting high quality education like they did during their time, or even higher. However, if one walks into any public school today he or she will realise that this in not happening in most schools.
Teachers are half-heartedly or completely unwilling to respond to their call of duty, which is to empower children through education. It has become common to see pupils loitering around schools during lesson hours. One pauses to wonder where their school guardians, who are teachers, would have gone.
Sibongumusa Moyo, who is going for her Upper Sixth studies next year, said teachers generally are no longer as vibrant and hard working as they used to be. “Our teachers are no longer vibrant. It seems like they do not have the spirit of delivering to students, which they once had. We have learnt to become independent because at times teachers do not attend lessons, they would be just sitting in the staff room, chatting.
“We can manage to read on our own but what about our younger sisters and brothers at primary school level,” said Sibongumusa. She said most teachers seemed to be more concerned about their personal problems than the desire to teach. “It seems personal problems cloud the minds of our teachers. As students we are caught in between and we have to suffer for the dissatisfaction of our teachers. The way some teachers talk and discipline us pupils has changed.
“One of my (former) teachers disciplined us with bitterness. She is always telling us that we do not show appreciation towards the effort she puts in teaching us. She says she has to fork out her money to commute from her house everyday to teach us and at the end of the month she receives a poor salary.
“We are tired of hearing about teachers’ salaries everyday. We want to learn not be held accountable for what we cannot control,” she said.
Education is important in the lives of children. Teachers are there to provide children with that education. Gone are the days when people could rule out the necessity of education and opt to use their entrepreneurial skills. Even these skills also require one to be educated.
The Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, David Coltart recently decried the prevalence of indiscipline among teachers. He said starting next year the Government would supervise teachers more closely in a bid to restore discipline and high standards in schools. He said laxity and lawlessness had crept into schools compromising the standard in the education sector. “There is a crisis of governance in our schools and a lot of lawlessness has crept in,” he said.
“Many teachers are not doing their work as expected, school development committees no longer comply with the law and incentives are being abused while pupils are sent away from schools in bold defiance of the law. All this is happening because of lack of monitoring and policing of our schools. There is too much laxity and a lot is not going well.”
He said there were 73 education administrative districts in the country and half of them had no education officers. The vacancies must be filled, he said, while a fleet of 60 vehicles had to be bought to enable inspectors to travel around districts, supervising teachers.
Mrs Caroline Ndlovu, a parent, said education determined how children live when they grow older.
“Our children have to get education so that they can be able to fend for themselves in future. This world is ever-changing due to the advent of technology and computerisation and children have to adjust to those changes to fit into society,” she said.
She said evidence that parents wanted to ensure that children were learning effectively was homework, which children bring from school. In most cases now, she said this was hardly happening.
“I have a child in primary school. I expect to see homework that he brings home but that seldom happens. Children learn at schools and when they come home they have no homework because teachers have no time to mark because they are probably occupied by other things,” she said.
She said laxity seemed to have crept into schools and the Government had to work on this problem because the future of children was at stake. In recent years teachers’ attention appears to have been diverted to non-core activities. Some of them carry out their personal businesses during working times in order to fend for themselves and their families, as they say the salaries they are earning are inadequate.
Teachers, like all civil servants, earn monthly salaries of about US$160. Over the past two years, they have been battling to have their salaries increased to about US$500 to no avail. The Government says it has no money to sustain the salary increment that teachers want and has given its employees modest increases after every six months.
In January next year, their salaries are likely to be increased up to US$300 per month.
Mrs Thelma Nhare, a teacher at a local primary school said teachers were being forced to find other means of making a livelihood because they were receiving poor salaries.
“As teachers, we do have side businesses though at the expense of lesson hours but what are we expected to do? In my case the peanuts I get as a salary only allow me to pay school fees for only one child out of three other children. Where do I get money to pay for my other children’s fees?” said Mrs Nhare. She said incentives were another means for teachers to get money but not all parents could afford them. This is why some teachers resort to selling this and that to make a living.
Bulawayo provincial education director, Mr Dan Moyo, said pass rates were dropping, a situation, which called for more measures to retain the standards.
“In the past few years, the country has recorded a drop in the pass rate due to various reasons such as the exodus of highly qualified teachers and demotivation of teachers but we are hoping that this will change in this coming year,” said Mr Moyo. He said plans of deploying more education officers in schools were under way. “More supervisors will move around schools this coming year to ensure effective teaching in schools. Supervisors will monitor that teachers follow the correct education norms in their conduct.
“These include ensuring that teachers follow the syllabus, they attend lessons and they give pupils homework, which they will move on to mark,” he said. Mr Moyo said the condition of the education sector was also expected to improve as the ministry was working to improve the student-textbook ratio to one is to one.
In next year’s national budget presented last month, Finance Minister Tendai Biti allocated US$469 million, of the US$2,7 billion budget, to the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.  Analysts say the budget allocation for civil servants’ salaries was unlikely to improve their well-being.
Industrialist and economic commentator, Dr Eric Bloch recently said the tax threshold of US$225 which has been set was insignificant as it would leave many workers earning salaries way below the poverty datum line estimated at US$502 monthly for a standard family.
He said a minimum tax band of US$300 would have been reasonable. He said the suggested threshold was not even what was expected because US$225 would not sustain many workers, especially civil servants when the cost of living was close to US$500 for a family of six.

Newsday

By Khulani Nkabinde

13 December 2010

The people of Matabeleland want government to have an affirmative action on education in the region, especially building new schools, because the region lost out on such educational development opportunities during the Gukurahundi era.

This emerged at the recent Independent Dialogue session sponsored jointly by the Zimbabwe Independent and Radio Dialogue in the city.

Participants at the dialogue unanimously called on government to implement affirmative action in Matabeleland region in terms of development especially in the education sector arguing the region was lagging behind in that respect.

They raised their concerns with the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, who was one of the panellists during the session held at the Bulawayo Club.

The discussion forum was held under the topic: “The Status of Education in Zimbabwe”.

“Could the minister please shed some light as to what the government is doing for the people of Matabeleland in terms of affirmative action, especially looking at the fact that we were seriously disadvantaged in the early 1980s because of disturbances here? We feel that our area is seriously lacking in terms of development,” said Peter Dube, one of the participants at the discussion forum.

“Our children do not have enough schools here. They have to walk more than seven kilometres to school and that is not being fair to them. Surely they cannot be expected to perform well in such an environment? We understand that in other areas, they have schools near to where they live,” he said.

In response, Coltart said Matabeleland was not the only province in the country that felt shortchanged by the centralisation of power.

However, Coltart admitted Matabeleland was marginalised in the 1980s.

“It is also a fact that the south-western parts of the country were marginalised. It is difficult to initiate development within the budgetary constraints that we have,” he said.

On the need to build more schools, Coltart said: “We cannot build new schools before we rehabilitate existing ones. As soon as we have resources, we clearly have to address that matter.”

Participants also complained that universities in the region enrolled more people from outside the region and that secondary schools in Matabeleland did not have sufficient resources such as science laboratories.
“We are identifying two schools per province to rehabilitate and also ensure that only children from those provinces will go into the schools,” Coltart said.

“We have identified four schools in the two Matabeleland provinces already. These will have laboratory facilities. Through this, we hope to address historical imbalances.”

Another panellist at the dialogue, National University of Science and Technology communication faculty dean Lawton Hikwa concurred with the participants and called on the Education ministry to take up the issue of development in Matabeleland seriously. “We have not seen schools being built here,” Hikwa said.

Sunday Mail

12 December 2010

Sunday Mail Reporter

A PRIVATE initiative aimed at assisting over 4 000 talented but underprivileged students through a 15 million euro grant from the German government is being blocked by several non-governmental organisations which are campaigning against the release of the funds on the basis that Zimbabwe is under European Union (EU) sanctions.

The funds, which have been locked up in Berlin since October, were supposed to be channelled to Zimbabwe through the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

Unicef would, in turn, avail funding to local institutions such as the recently launched Teach Zimbabwe for use in programmes aimed at reviving the education sector.

The German government recently wrote to the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture confirming the allocation of the grant, adding that the funds would be channelled through Unicef.
Soon after the approval of the funds, several anti-Zimbabwe NGOs launched attempts to block the money, citing the sanctions while others clamoured for a chunk of the funds.

Education Minister Senator David Coltart would not comment on the issue last week but a German embassy official confirmed the approval of the funds.

A senior ministry official also confirmed the development, adding that they would have wanted to use some of the money to fund a number of projects including those agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Teach Zimbabwe in October last year.

The MoU entails the establishment of academies of excellence through scholarships for disadvantaged but talented students as well as the rehabilitation of infrastructure in schools to create better learning facilities.

The overall goal of the academies of excellence is to ensure rapid and sustainable recovery and development of the education system, and thus curtail any further loss of national talent, especially among disadvantaged students, through concrete, realistic and demonstrable returns on sufficiently focused investment in the education sector.

“We have been waiting for the release of the funds which we understand have been delayed by infighting amongst some NGOs opposed to progress in Zimbabwe.
“We have heard that some of them are citing the sanctions against Zimbabwe as a basis for blocking the funds but we hope that sanity will prevail for the sake of the intended beneficiaries,” said the ministry official.

Teach Zimbabwe founder Mr Kojo Parris, a respected entrepreneur and former investment banker, confirmed signing the MoU but referred further questions to the ministry.
“We have signed an agreement with the Government. But talk to the Ministry of Education for more details,” said Mr Parris.

The organisation’s other trustees are agronomist and academic Dr Ruvimbo Chimedza and senior business executive Mr Bart Mswaka.
Teach Zimbabwe launched its Zimbabwe Talented but Disadvantaged Children Education Programme under which at least 4 000 are expected to benefit during the first phase of the scheme next year when five to eight million euro are expected to be channelled into 20 schools.