The Herald

by Herald Reporter

29 July 2010

The Government will soon overhaul school curriculums to meet key recommendations of the 1999 Nziramasanga Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education, a Cabinet minister has said.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said this at Tuesday’s unveiling of the new Zimsec board in Harare.

“We are lagging behind in terms of development. The current curriculum has not been that comprehensive as it was last updated over two decades ago.

“There is need to adjust and reform so that we meet the demands of different sectors of the economy,” he said.

Minister Coltart said emphasis would be on practical and technical subjects as Government sought to inculcate a culture of self-reliance.

“The current system has been academically oriented and we also have to put focus on vocational training for the development of the nation,” he said.

He added that Government would continue promoting science subjects.

Minister Coltart called for the review of the Zimsec Act.

“The Act is in need of revision as it was put in place when the country had less than four universities. Now we have many universities around the country and it is difficult to get a cohesive and coherent output if other members are excluded because of the Act. This is why it has been taking long to come up with a new board for the examination centre,” he said.

The Nziramasanga Commission recommended equal emphasis for practical and technical subjects and those of an academic nature in the first two years of secondary education.

www.voxy.co.nz

29 July 2010

By Paloma Migone of NZPA

Wellington, July 29 NZPA – Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully could have scored points with the International Rugby Board after an extravagant $2855 dinner.

Credit card statements released today from April 1 to June 30 show more $2800 was charged on the staff credit card for an IRB dinner at Kermadec Brasserie Bar in Auckland in March.

The minister, who is expected to entertain in posh places, hosted the dinner for more than 10 people.

The expensive items on the bill were four Ata Rangi Pinot Noir bottles costing a total $740, with three oysters plates for a total of $156, and bread for $230.

Mr McCully, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and Sport and Recreation, also hosted a seven-person dinner with Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele at Soul Bar in Auckland for $747.50.

A dinner at Shed 5 in Wellington on June 13 with Zimbabwe Sport Minister David Coltart cost $417.50 and included two bottles of Seresin Chardonnay for $176.

In credit card statements previously released from November 2008 to February this year, Mr McCully spent a lot of time overseas staying in hotels and eating in restaurants.

Over the last three months, he has stopped in Egypt and China.

Herald

28 July 2010

Herald Reporter

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart has announced a new 18-member Zimbabwe School Examinations Council board as part of efforts to revamp operations at the body.

He retained three members from the old board. The new board is chaired by Solusi University Vice Chancellor Professor Norman Maphosa and will be deputised by Chartered Accountant Mrs Hilda Shindi.

Prof Maphosa sat on the old board and was retained. The team takes over from the Professor Phineus Makhurane-led board whose term of office expired in 2006.

However, that board last met in May 2008 to discuss the institution’s challenges.

The Zimsec Act stipulates that the chairman of the board must be a serving Vice Chancellor of a university. Prof Makhurane ceased to be National University of Science and Technology VC on June 30, 2004.

However, Prof Makhurane was retained in the new board, as was Prof Obert Maravanyika (Great Zimbabwe University Vice Chancellor).

New board members are Paul Themba Nyathi (former MDC MP for Gwanda North), Dr Gary Brooking, Dr Wonderful Dzimiri (Midlands State University), Dr Zifikile Gambahaya and Dr Rosemary Moyana (both University of Zimbabwe). Also on the board are Mr Erison Huruba (Education Ministry), Dr Primrose Kurasha and Dr Leonorah Nyaruwata (both Zimbabwe Open University) and Dr Isaac Machakanja (Africa University).

Others are Dr Donna Musiyandaka (Chinhoyi University of Technology), Ms Nomsa Hazel Ncube (Law Society of Zimbabwe), Mrs Lesley Ross, Mr Andrew Jonathan Sibanda (NUST) and educationist Mr Obert Sibanda.

www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk

28 July 2010

By Sandy Neil

Traquair House is inviting you to travel beyond borders and explore the world’s small nation cultures at the new international arts festival Borders, Books and Bikes on August 14 and 15.

Writers, thinkers and artists from Palestine, Zimbabwe, Georgia, Kurdistan and Sierra Leone will join storytellers from Scotland to guide two days of walks, talks and cycling in Traquair’s grounds and surrounding countryside.
The mind behind the event is Mark Muller Stuart QC, founder of Beyond Borders: an organisation dedicated to harnessing Scotland’s heritage to help promote understanding and reduce conflict between world cultures.
“Scotland acts as a beacon to nations and unrecognised peoples around the world seeking to protect their own way of life through non-violent ways,” said Mark, an international human rights lawyer, who lives at Traquair with his wife Catherine and their children.
Catherine is currently organising this weekend’s Traquair Fair, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary with a Beyond Borders theme of its own, featuring international art and artists from Cuba, Afghanistan, Palestine and Georgia.
The Borders, Books and Bikes line-up in August includes Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Sakharov Prize-winner Leyla Zana, who was in 1991 elected Turkey’s first Kurdish woman MP, but was subsequently imprisoned for 10 years for taking her oath in her native language, when speaking it even in private was illegal.
Leading a hill walk and talk on Palestine and the Israeli occupation is Raja Shehedah, author of Palestinian Walks: Notes of a Vanishing Landscape, and winner of the 2008 Orwell Prize for political writing. Two photographic exhibitions, Cityscapes of Palestine and Capturing Kurdistan, also illustrate the lives lived in the two cultures.
Zimbabwean writer and Faber prize-winning poet, Petina Gappah, reads her portraits of life and people in contemporary Zimbabwe, while the country’s MDC culture minister, David Coltart, and the director of Mugabe and the White African, Andy Thomson, discuss where now for Zimbabwe with the BBC’s former Africa correspondent Allan Little.
Allan is also in conversation with award-winning BBC journalist and now full-time novelist Aminatta Forna on her biographical and literary stories of love and loss in Sierra Leone’s civil war.
Radical lawyer Michael Mansfield QC shares his memoirs of a career defending the likes of the Birmingham Six, the families of Bloody Sunday and Jean Charles de Menezes, and Colombian philosopher and cultural critic Dr Oscar Guardiola-Rivera then argues the case why Latin America should rule the world.
True to the spirit of cultural exchange, the festival also celebrates Scotland’s heritage, with Border historian and broadcaster Alistair Moffat reading tales of the Highland Clans, and Scots storytellers John Nicol and Colin Scott-Moncrieff leading bike rides from Abbotsford and Neidpath Castle to Traquair. Mary Kenny also brings 900 years of local history alive on a wood walk, while Borders writer Fi Martyn Oga leads a literary hill walk, meeting working artists Silvia Woodcock, Caroline McNairn and Joseph Maxwell Stuart on the way.
For more information visit www.beyondborders2010.com

Zimbabwean

By Farirayi Kahwemba

28 July 2010

HARARE – After more than a decade of decline, characterized by allegations of maladministration on the part of Zimbabwe Cricket’s (ZC) top brass and dismal performances on the international stage by the national team, cricket is now slowly but surely finding its feet. (Picture: Henry Olonga believes that Mugabe is a stumbling block in Zimbabwean cricket.)

History proves that Zimbabwean cricket often mirrors the country’s political climate and the coming in of the MDC into government – which culminated into the appointment of David Coltart to the post of Minister of Education, Sport and Culture – seems to have brought with it a good measure of legitimacy and respect in the eyes of the international community.

Hopes are high that the direct involvement of MDC officials in local cricket will paint a brighter picture of the sport, which in the past has been isolated internationally because of its links to Zanu (PF).  Stakeholders are also hopeful that the presence of the MDC will go a long way in softening the stance of countries such as Australia, England and New Zealand, who are refusing to play in Zimbabwe because of continued human rights abuses under President Robert Mugabe’s autocratic rule.

Under Coltart
Under Coltart, technical issues directly related to the national cricket team are now the responsibility of former players, as they are the ones who possess the knowledge and experience of the game.

The wisdom of roping in former national team skipper Alistair Campbell (ZC convener of selectors) and Heath Streak (bowling coach) is already bearing fruit.
The two, together with Dave Houghton who is also assisting with the coaching, were persuaded to be part of the technical set up in a development that saw them find common ground with ZC following longstanding differences dating back to 2005.

Other former players such as Grant Flower and Duncan Fletcher have in turn expressed a desire to be incorporated into the ZC structures and there is no doubt that their experience will be an invaluable asset to the sport.

Under the proposed arrangements for the future, Flower – who during his prime was considered one of the best opening batsmen in the world – will be appointed as the national team’s batting coach while Fletcher will be responsible for grooming young talent at the national cricket academy.

According to ZC’s Head of Game Development and Training, Titus Zvomuya, Cricket South Africa (CSA) is also complimenting Zimbabwe’s cricket developmental efforts through assisting in the area of coaching and age group tournaments.

CSA support
The assistance, which is being rendered until Zimbabwe regains its test-playing status, is in line with a cooperation agreement that was signed between ZC and CSA in February this year.

“The support we have received from CSA is second to none. This support has come in many different forms and notably in coaching and age group tournaments. This will go a long way in helping us to become a strong cricketing nation,” said Zvomuya.
Domestic cricket will also have an international flair following the appointment of former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie to the position of head coach of MidWest Rhinos.

And while the national team is yet to match the one during the 1990s – when the sport was at its peak in Zimbabwe – there are clear signs of a revival on the field of play.

A young, relatively inexperienced Zimbabwe shocked the world by beating Australia just before the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2010 Twenty-20 World Cup after very few people had given them a chance.

In their opening match of the tournament, they registered a comfortable victory over the West Indies and although they eventually failed to progress beyond the group stages of the competition, they won the respect of the other teams taking part.

Former national team fast bowler Henry Olonga – who was the first black cricketer to represent the country – believes the time is ripe for stakeholder within the ICC to seriously reconsider rehabilitating Zimbabwe back into the elite league of test cricket playing nations.

Stumbling block
However, believes that President Mugabe, who is the ZC patron, is a stumbling block to the development of the sport in the country.

“It is a painful compromise, but I think Zimbabwe is on the mend. Certainly it is cricket-wise but politically there is still a long way to go,” said Olonga.

“We are starting to play well in one-day cricket now so let’s use this momentum and get to the stage where they are a competitive Test side in three or four years.
“The way forward is for Zimbabwe to play some of the lesser teams first and if we don’t get beaten in two days then we are heading in the right direction,” he said.

Newsday

By Staff Writer

July 28 2010

The delicate inclusive government has made a sympathetic undertaking to pay examination fees for at least 15 000 underprivileged students countrywide who failed to register for the forthcoming Ordinary and Advanced Level final exams with the Zimbabwe Examination School Council (Zimsec).

The compassionate gesture follows failure by thousands of students to raise the required examination fees. Reports however indicate that many had since dropped out of school when it became apparent they would be unable to sit for examinations this year.

Thousands of prospective candidates have failed to raise the required $10 and $20 fees per subject at Ordinary and Advanced Level respectively with parents arguing the figures were astronomical.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister, David Coltart, said government was aware there were many children who failed to register as a result of poverty and schools were tasked to come up with a list of deserving beneficiaries.

“As government we have decided to assist at least

15 000 students who have failed to register to sit for their examinations as a result of the economic situation.

“Government has since asked school heads to compile lists of candidates that need support,” he said.

The underprivileged candidates are being accommodated through the $1,8 million fund set aside for the Basic Education Assistance Model (Beam).

The sharp economic decline over the past 10 years characterised by hyperinflation adversely affected the education sector.

New Zimbabwe.com

By Staff reporter

26 July 2010

More A’ Level students fail Shona than Maths, Physics and Economics, a report commissioned by the Ministry of Education reveals.

In 2007, only 47 percent of students passed Shona, dropping to 43 percent in 2008 compared to 77 percent and 80 percent for Physics, 58 percent and 68 percent for Economics and the pass rate for Maths which was 54 percent in 2007, and 47 percent in 2008.

The startling figures are contained in an assessment report of Zimbabwe’s primary and secondary schools produced by the National Education Advisory Board, and handed out to donors in London last week by Education Minister David Coltart.

The failure rate for Shona is even more pronounced when the statistics are compared to Ndebele, which was passed by 91 percent of A’ Level students in 2007, the figure dipping slightly to 88 percent in 2008.

The July 2009 report, written by former Education Minister Fay Chung, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal Trudy Stevenson and educationist Sharayi Chakanyuka, provides no answers for the Shona failure rate – so bad only Accounting had worse statistics of 43 percent in 2007 and 32 percent in 2008.

Meanwhile in O’ Level, Integrated Science is officially the most difficult subject with only 19 percent of students passing in 2007, and 22 percent in 2008.

The report shows a steep fall in the pass rate for Maths and History between 2007 and 2008. Only 18 percent of O’ Level students passed English in 2008, down 15 percent from the 2007 pass rate of 33 percent.

The decline was worse in Maths which was passed by 48 percent of the class of 2007 but saw a sharp fall a year later to 21 percent – a difference of almost 24 percent.

The report blames an overall decline in education standards on the flight of teachers due to poor pay over the last decade and lack of government funding for schools.

“The image of the teacher was at its lowest since Independence,” the report says. “Loss of status from the pauperisation of teachers played an important part in demoralising teachers.”

Zimbabwean

By Staff Reporter

25 July 2010

HARARE – The government is in a bid to restore back the dignity of the teaching profession.
The Minister of Education Sports and Culture David Coltart said: “My first priority is to ensure that teachers are paid sufficiently so as to restore their integrity. The good thing is that we have an incredible dedicated teaching staff which, is an essential ingredient in improving the education sector.”
Coltart said over 15 000 thousand teachers who left the profession due to the economic meltdown had returned to their postings countrywide in response to the amnesty that the Ministry of Education granted them in 2009.
Thousands of teachers fled the country due to political intimidation and low salaries.
“Despite the low salaries that teachers are getting over 15 000 have returned since last year blanket amnesty for all teachers to return. This indicates that teachers are being paid sufficiently to get back into the system. But I reiterate that I understand that teachers’ salaries are inadequate and I am continuously arguing in cabinet for equality in the civil service. There are many people in the civil service who are being paid far more than teachers,” said Coltart.
Donors had come to the aid of the staff in the health sector by topping up the salaries of doctors nurses and pharmacists but nothing similar had been done for teachers, who were entrusted with the future of the nation.
“I have been advised by trade unions that soldiers are earning much more than teachers, and that is wrong.  I am not demeaning soldiers in any way I respect soldiers, for the role they play in protecting our nation but I believe it’s wrong that teachers should earn less than soldiers. We need to bring teachers’ salaries up.”
As an incentives to encourage teachers to stay at their schools, most parents hav e to folk out money from their pockets to pay them an extra amount.
“The cost of education in the country has been transferred to parents but because parents themselves are poor that has led to a large drop out at both primary and secondary schools. In some rural areas more than 75 percent of students between the age of six and sixteen have dropped out of school,” said Coltart.
However, the minister said despite the return of the teachers, there was still a shortage of teachers in critical subjects such as Mathematics, Science and English . These were in demand in the neighbouring countries where teachers were still highly esteemed and offered better salaries.

Zimbabwean

Written by Mxolisi Ncube

Sunday, 25 July 2010

LONDON – A group of United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean organisations met in London last week to chart ways in which they can assist the education sector in the country, especially the Matabeleland and Midlands regions.

The groups, led by the Zimbabwe Community Association (ZCA) and Matebeleland.com, a forum for development, education, health, investment and tourism promotion in the two regions, agreed on a programme that will help rehabilitate the education system in Zimbabwe.

The programme was agreed to at a meeting the organisations held with Minister of Education Senator David Coltart when was visiting the UK to discuss the Diaspora’s assistance for Zimbabwe.

The ZCA has already launched a fundraising campaign meant to raise school fees for some identified under-resourced schools and under-privileged children in the regions, while a position paper was submitted to Senator Coltart during his visit.

“Education in Zimbabwe has suffered because of the current multi-faceted crisis and we are losing the future of a whole generation of young people to this calamity,” Freeman Ncube, the global chairman of Matebeleland.com, who also chaired the meeting, told The Zimbabwean.

“Children in Zimbabwe, especially Matabeleland and the Midlands regions, cannot afford school and examination fees because most of their parents are unemployed and it is our duty to help them as Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.

“We therefore, appeal to all Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe to join this noble cause by making contributions and coming up with suggestions on how Zimbabweans in the Diaspora can assist in the development of our country.”

The meting was attended by various individuals and charity organisation serving the two regions.

“This is not about Matabeleland and the Midlands alone and we encourage Zimbabweans from other regions to do the same for the communities that nurtured them, so that the whole country can move forward,” added Ncube.

Matebeleland.com is currently working with Compassionate Justice International (CJI), an American-based non-profit organisation under the directorship of Zimbabwean author, Bob Scott, in trying to source funds that will facilitate the shipment of text books worth thousands of dollars to Zimbabwe.

The books were sourced from American schools and libraries through Project Aspire:  Textbooks for Zimbabwe – launched by Scott’s Kansas City-based organisation and are meant to benefit under-resourced Zimbabweans schools

The two organisations will be working together in making sure that the books get distributed to the schools they are intended for and their goal is to get all the books shipped to Zimbabwe by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

Sunday News

25  July 2010

By Bhekizulu Tshuma

DAGGERS have been drawn for Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara, in the MDC formation that he leads, after eight provincial structures reportedly resolved to replace him with Professor Welshman Ncube as the leader of the party in its next congress pencilled for February next year.

National executive members of the MDC party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday News that the axe is hanging over Prof Mutambara’s head with eight provinces having unanimously agreed that the party’s secretary general, Prof Ncube, replace him.
The executive members have accused Prof Mutambara of “political immaturity’’.
One of the sources in Harare province, said the party would hold its congress in February next year at a venue yet to be confirmed, and would seek to, “offload top deadwood’’.
“What we are doing as a party is offload the top deadwood,’’ said the source.
“Of the meetings that we have been making around the country, the consensus is that Prof Ncube should replace the current party president (Prof Mutambara) who we feel is not fit for that post.’’
However, party deputy secretary general, Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, refuted the reports as unfounded and misleading.
“I don’t know where that comes from because we haven’t formalised our nomination process as the national leadership.
“What I can say is that when we go to congress all the positions are open for contestation and people will elect candidates they would want to occupy the top seven positions,’’ she said.
Another source said he was convinced that after congress there would be a new presidium for the MDC formation.
Sources said some of the changes in the party are likely to see current national party spokesperson, Mr Edwin Mushoriwa, assume the vice-presidency.
Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga will take over the secretary-general’s post from Prof Ncube.
According to the proposed changes, Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga would be deputised by the current secretary for foreign affairs, Mr Moses Mzila Ndlovu.
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr David Coltart, has been seconded for the Treasurer General’s post.
Insiders said the party’s national chairman, Mr Joubert Mudzumwe, would be replaced by the chairman for Chitugwiza, Mr Rodrick Chimbaira.
Contacted for comment, Matabeleland South provincial chairman and MP for Bulilima West, Mr Mzila-Ndlovu, sounded sceptical about the issue but, however, insisted that the party’s policy was to come up with best candidates to represent them.
“When we go to congress all positions are open to everyone regardless of which province they come from. We are saying this ideology that influential positions should be reserved for certain people from certain regions is just a myth.
“The basic factor now is that we want the sort of leadership that is going to match the quality of demands for such positions,’’ he said.
Sources in the party accuse Prof Mutambara of inconsistency and of being too “flamboyant’’ in his speeches when talking about President Mugabe.
The highly-placed source from Harare province said his province was the first to express discontent over its leader and called for Prof Ncube’s take over.
“As Harare province we were the first to see our mistake of inviting Mutambara to lead us. I’m pleased to say that as Harare province we have resolved and agreed that the current secretary-general should become the president to lead us to the next election.
“We feel Prof Mutambara is not mature as he easily gets carried away. Our main aim would be to elect a leadership that will take us to the Promised Land,’’ he said.
Insiders from Bulawayo, who are privy to the developments in the party, concurred that Prof Mutambara’s career as a politician had been short-lived after all the Matabeleland provinces have “humbly requested’’ for the recalling of not only the current president but also some of the national leaders.
One of the Bulawayo provincial leaders gave a tribal narrative to the developments. He said the MDC party has now realised that Ndebele people were capable of leading like any other tribe in the country and should not always be relegated to playing second fiddle to others in national politics.

“The final position as Matabeleland is that after congress we should be led by someone from this region. For so long we have been seconding candidates from other regions yet the party’s stronghold is here, Matabeleland.
“Who said we were born to hold positions of deputies and vices? We also deserve an opportunity to lead and hold positions of governance and power,’’ the source said.
MDC Bulawayo secretary for information and publicity was, however, reluctant to comment as he said the party was currently committed to the constitution-making programme.
“The context of leadership from everywhere in the country is a good idea. But people should understand that at the moment the party is committed to the constitution-making process and talking about who will be the party’s next president is rather too early.
“In fact, our top leaders are doing well both at party and Government levels,’’ he said.
Prof Mutambara’s arrival in the MDC in 2006 did not go down well with everyone in the party, with then Prof Ncube’s deputy, Mr Gift Chimanikire, charging that he was the best candidate for the job and claiming his colleagues had stabbed him in the back.
The MDC split irreconcilably with MDC-T led by Prime Minister, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, following disagreements over participating in senate elections in November 2005. PM Tsvangirai, favoured a boycott of the elections, but his senior colleagues disagreed leading to an acrimonious split.
Prof Mutambara shot to prominence in the late 80s when he led massive student protests against the Government.
At the time of his appointment he was the managing director of Africa Technology & Business Institute, a professional and advisory services firm operating in 13 African countries.
Prof Mutambara was also a principal consultant with MAC Consulting and Professor of Operations Management with the School of Business Leadership, UNISA.
Formerly, Prof Mutambara was a Research Scientist and Professor of Robotics and Mechatronics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon University, California Institute of Technology, FAMU-FSU, and NASA, all in the United States.