Daily News

By Staff Reporter

19 July 2010

HARARE – The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart is expected to present Zimbabwe’s two education plans when he addresses an international conference in London this week.

Senator Coltart is visiting London to attend a conference whose theme is: Education in Zimbabwe – Working together for a better future.

The Minister is scheduled to present Zimbabwe’s Interim Plan for Education (July 2010 -December 2011) and a Five Year Plan ( 2011-2015).

The  conference is being organised by the Commonwealth Consortium for Education and Link Community Development.

A statement issued by the organisers says the two education plans were developed with the support of the World Bank.

During the conference, Zimbabwe’s current development partners,The World Bank, Unicef and the UK Department for International Development are expected to
outline their support to Zimbabwe and their view of the way forward.

Early today ( Monday) Senator Coltart held a meeting with Malcolm Bruce, the chairman of the Interbnational Development Committee of the United Kingdom Parliament.

Sunday News

18 July 2010

Senior Sports Reporter

THE Hockey Association of Zimbabwe(HAZ) is waiting for Government assurance on the refurbishment of Khumalo Hockey Stadium in Bulawayo before committing themselves to hosting the Africa Olympic qualifiers set for next year.

HAZ president Kays Kanyangarara said he has had informal discussions with Education Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart on the renovation of Khumalo Hockey Stadium but nothing has been put down formally.
Kanyangarara pointed out that as soon as they get Government commitment in writing, they would then inform the Confederation of African Hockey Federation whose president is in Egypt that they are able to host the African qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics.
“I have had informal discussions with Coltart but nothing has been put down in writing by the Government. We have been given an opportunity by the African Hockey Federation to host the African Olympic qualifiers next year which will be part of the All Africa Games to be hosted by Mozambique who however do not have hockey facilities. The African Hockey Federation needs a guarantee that the stadium will be refurbished,” said Kanyangarara.
The HAZ boss said news that Khumalo Hockey Stadium would be revamped had been met with excitement by the hockey society as they will now be able to go ahead with programmes they had planned.
Coltart recently told this newspaper that Finance Minister Tendai Biti would soon release funds for the renovation of Khumalo Hockey Stadium to pave way for the country to host the Africa Olympic qualifiers. He said then that a foreign government had shown interest in funding the revamping of Magamba Hockey Stadium in Harare.
Built ahead of the 1995 All Africa Games staged in Zimbabwe, the two hockey stadiums are some of the best in Africa. However, the deterioration of the artificial turfs had seen the facilities not put to full use since 2004, while the sport returned to grass.
Zimbabwe has not hosted any international match since 2002 when South Africa came here on tour.
An inter-provincial tournament was held at Christian Brothers College in Bulawayo last weekend with the event being used to select national teams to represent the country at a Tri-Nations event also involving Botswana in Windhoek, Namibia next month.
Meanwhile, former national team coach, Colin Williams and ex-captain Michael McKillop are now back in the local sport.
Williams who is based in South Africa was the Matabeleland men’s coach during the inter-provincial tournament while McKillop who is back home after spending five years in South Africa also played for Matabeleland.
McKillop said his intention is to develop hockey at grassroots level and has ruled out an immediate return to the national team.
“I do not have plans to play for the national team, I don’t think I am fit enough. I am happy to assist where I can. My plan is to set up a hockey school for the juniors and develop the sport in schools,” he said.
Both Williams and McKillop walked out on the national team on the eve of the 2003 All Africa Games held in Nigeria when they found out that some Harare administrators had deliberately submitted a wrong team for accreditation.

Zimbabwean

By Staff Reporter

16 July 2010

HARARE — The government is set to reintroduce the basic education assistance module (BEAM) as part of a drive to put back in class thousands of children who have dropped out of school because of financial constraints.

The BEAM programme helps pay school fees and provide other support for children from poor families. The programme that is partly funded by donors was discontinued after the government ran out of cash following a 10-year recession.

Education Minister David Coltart said the government hopes to extend support to all children in need, adding that it would also look into the plight of teachers who like other civil servants have been pressing for more pay and better working conditions.

Coltart said: “My number one priority is to restore education for all and after that to restore the integrity of the teachers. It does not matter how many text books you have as long as morale is low among the teaching staff then they will not be any progress in restoring basic education.”

Zimbabwe’s education sector that was once revered as one of the best in Africa, is a shadow of its former self because of a severe economic crisis over the past decade that has seen government fail to pay market level salaries to teachers, maintain schools or provide learning materials such as chalks, textbooks and exercise books.
Thousands of children have dropped out of school because of hunger and lack of money for fees, while on the other hand many of Zimbabwe’s best trained teachers have left the country for foreign lands where salaries and living conditions are better
Teachers in Zimbabwe’s public schools earn an average US$236 monthly wage as the power-sharing government struggles to revive an economy battered by years of hyperinflation, lure back investors and pay its workers.
But Coltart, who has worked hard to revive education despite meagre resources available, said it was all not gloom and doom, saying his department with the help of donors was working hard to get education back on its feet again.
“We have started re-introducing basic education. Teachers are going back to school and education material is being distributed to schools.

Shortly we will be delivering textbooks that will see the student to textbook ratio (improving) and then we will move to refurbishing the toilets at schools which are in bad shape. Our initial target will be the sanitary conditions we want to ensure that every school is safe,” said Coltart.

ZimEye.org

By Xinhua/Staff Reporter

15 July 2010

Zimbabwe has superceded and overtaken Tunisia rising to become Africa’s best country with a literacy rate according the latest figures from the UNDP Digest.

Tunisia (up north) had held pole position for years with Zimbabwe second- best and number one in Sub-Saharan Africa.

But according to the UNDP Digest, Zimbabwe’s literacy level jumped to 92 percent, up from 85 percent while Tunisia remains on 87 percent.

The achievement is despite the country’s education sector suffering from brain drain and lack of resources over the past decade as has been recently lamented by Education Minister, David Coltart.

A senior government official told the Herald on Wednesday that the increase in literacy levels is due to government’s heavy investment in education over the years which has seen among others, many civil servants attending university even in their old age. A recent survey revealed hundreds of teachers, gone past the age of 35 gaining access to prestigious university programmes.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Washington Mbizvo said the government has promoted conventional and open distance learning in its quest to achieve education for all.

“The latest statistical digest was published last month and shows our country surpassing all African countries. This is because we have been able to make all people access education including those in resettlement areas.

“Despite hardships, education facilities are present in most parts of the country,” he said.

While acknowledging that education infrastructure has deteriorated, Mbizvo said the quality and culture of education in the country has improved.”

“Zimbabweans have always been eager to learn,” he said.

“The government has expanded the number of teachers’ colleges to 13, producing 2, 500 teachers per year,” he said, adding that other countries in Africa produce between 200 and 400 teachers annually on average.

Herald

14 July 2010

Harare — Government will continue improving teachers’ welfare, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart has said.

Addressing journalists on the sidelines of a two-day workshop on education and the donor community, Minister Coltart said teachers were a vital component in national development.

As such, he said, Government would engage donors through the workshop ahead of a meeting of developmental partners set for the United Kingdom next week. “As Government we should ensure better living conditions, adequate salaries and personal security so that teachers have no excuses for leaving the country in search of greener pastures,” he said.

Minister Coltart called for dialogue with other ministries, especially the Ministry of Finance, to discuss funding for education in 2011. “Government is currently reaching out to other partners including non-governmental organisations to fight financial problems faced by the ministry,” he said.

Newsday

By Mernat Mafirakurewa

July 14 2010

Education minister David Coltart has called for a review of the country’s education curriculum which he says has become irrelevant especially in the area of information technology.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a workshop on education on Tuesday, the minister said Zimbabwe was lagging behind in terms of curriculum development.

“We are woefully behind especially in areas such as information technology. For two decades our curriculum has remained the same,” he said.

Coltart said he would next week lead a delegation to the United Kingdom to engage developmental partners to address this situation.

The meeting is scheduled for 22 and 23 July in London.

Tuesday’s workshop was held with a view of coming up with a document to be presented at the London meetings.

Coltart said dialogue with the finance ministry was key in coming up with a proper budget for education in 2011.

He said the inclusive government was in the process of reaching out to partners including non-governmental organisations to fight financial problems faced by the ministry.

Delegates to the meeting said the country needed the support of international partners such as the World Bank.

The meeting noted that one of the key elements to ensuring recovery of the sector would be through the restoration of professional status of teachers.

“This is the most important component in the education sector,” Coltart said.

The delegation to the United Kingdom was expected to lobby donors to fund education in Zimbabwe.

“We need funds to re-invigorate the schooling system so that the education system can start functioning again,” said Coltart.

Sunday News

12 July 2010

By Mehluli Sibanda

THE Government will soon avail funds for the refurbishment of the Khumalo Hockey Stadium in Bulawayo, which will pave way for the country to host the African Olympic Hockey qualifiers next year.

Education, Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart said he had spoken to Finance Minister Tendai Biti who had agreed to release money to revamp Khumalo Hockey Stadium. The stadium’s turf has disintegrated to a stage where it is impossible to hold a full hockey match.
“I have spoken to the Finance Minister and he indicated to me that the funds would be released soon for the refurbishment of the Khumalo Hockey Stadium to enable the country to host the African Olympic qualifiers next year. So we expect the refurbishment to be complete by the end of this year,” he said. The education minister said a foreign donor has shown interest in rehabilitating Magamba Stadium in Harare. In terms of figures, Coltart said they were looking in the region of US$1 million as they had to replace the astro turf, fix the water system for both fields and sort out the floodlights.
In 2004, the Federation of International Hockey offered the Hockey Association of Zimbabwe a grant of US$50 000 to replace the astro turf at both Khumalo Stadium and Magamba Stadium in Harare but HAZ lost the allocation after failing to get Government support for the project. On the higher figure to be released by the Government, Coltart described the level of deterioration at Khumalo Stadium as “horrendous” and had been allowed to go unchecked over the years.
Built ahead of the 1995 All-Africa Games hosted by the country, the two stadiums were world class and were touted as some of the best hockey facilities in the world. After the disintegration of the astro turfs since 2003, the facilities had virtually become White Elephants. The two stadiums were built by the Ministry of Public Works who in turn handed them over to the Sport and Recreation Commission to run them on behalf of Government.