Sunday News
4 October 2009
Comment

The crisis that faces Zimbabwe’s educational system requires collective wisdom and effort to address. It cannot be left to chance or the whims of individual citizens because it concerns the future of the nation.

Children are the future of this country. It is to them (young people) that we will pass on the baton to run the affairs of this nation and it would be tragic if we were to hand over such reins to a generation of illiterates.

Although the advent of independence in 1980 saw tremendous expansion in the education sector in terms of building, equipping and staffing of schools, and enrolment of students, those gains are being eroded by the economic challenges facing the nation. For the first time the nation last year witnessed the ups and downs that obtained during the writing of the Grade Seven, O-level and A-level examinations and in an unprecedented development the results came out very late this year. Grade Seven and Form Four graduates proceeded to form One and Lower Six without results, which only came later when the school calendar had commenced. Some of the students had to suffer the humiliation of being forced to drop out of A-level after it transpired that they had failed O-level.

As if this was not enough a series of teachers’ strikes also crippled the smooth running of the education sector. Coupled with this Government came up with a regime of exorbitant school fees, which saw many parents failing to pay. This saw the authorities slashing the fees and directing that schools should not send students home for non-payment of fees. While some parents celebrated the slashing of fees, this was to be short-lived as authorities and School Development Committees hiked levies. For instance although school fees at Government secondary schools in the low-density suburbs are $20 a term the levy is US$100 at some schools in Bulawayo. This resulted in parents failing to pay and according to reports more than 60 percent of students at most schools have not paid their first, second and third terms school fees and levies resulting in teachers, who have just returned to work after a strike, getting a new pastime of identifying the non-paying children and sending them home. At one school in Bulawayo only five students remained in a 30-student class after the others were found to have failed to pay school fees since January.

The last nail was struck right on the head when more than 70 percent of the students failed to register for the O-level and A-level November examinations nationwide and the Minister of Education Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, announced that the deadline would not be extended resulting in a public outcry. An O-level candidate Gracious Thambo of Lobengula in Bulawayo had to file an urgent chamber application seeking a provisional order forcing Minister Coltart and the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) to extend the examination registration deadline. Under pressure the minister extended the deadline from 25 September to 16 October amid reports that some of the students who had failed to register had since stopped attending lessons.

It is against this backdrop that we demand that the Government of the people look for money to pay examination fees for the entire O and A-level student body. Educating these children is a national responsibility and not a favour. Education is a human right. Many of our parents, brothers and sister perished during the liberation struggle fighting against Ian Smith’s bottleneck system of education. We do not want it to return.

We have to go through some introspection as a nation and ask ourselves why Bulawayo girl Gracious had to seek a court order to force us to do the right thing, extending the examination deadline. In fact the ministry and Zimsec should have just extended the deadline after discovering that 70 percent of the students had not paid their examination fees.

We need a comprehensive intervention to deal with this national crisis in the education sector. Money has to be found to pay for examination fees for these children and it is the duty of the Government to find the money because the role of any government in a constitutional democracy is to serve the people.

It is better to allow all the children to write the examination and hold on to their results next year. While we also sympathise with Minister Coltart we feel he should exercise extreme moderation when handling matters that relate to the future of this nation. Failure to pay examination fees clearly tells a tale of hopelessness among our people. It should knock sense into those teachers who are demanding incentives from parents to teach their children. We ask of what value is their education if our children cannot write the final examination?

Elsewhere, we publish a story in which the Minister of Public Service, Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, says Government is considering scrapping teachers’ incentives amid reports of corruption by some educators. We welcome this development because we believe it was uncalled for in the first place. Teachers are not the only Zimbabwean workers who are getting less than US$200 a month — soldiers, police, many other civil servants are getting this kind of money. We urge teachers’ unions to get to the industrial site and do a salary and wage survey of workers there before they demand incentives. Some parents are getting less than 500 rands a month. Where do they expect them to get the 60 rands a month per pupil from? We have to be realistic. If government is broke, where do you expect the povo to get the money from?

Zimbabwe Guardian
By Floyd Nkomo
Saturday 3 October 2009

THE 226th Ordinary Session of the Zanu PF Politburo has endorsed the application by Professor Jonathan Moyo to rejoin the party.

Prof. Moyo is the only independent lawmaker in Zimbabwe’s 210-seat parliament. He represents Tsholotsho North.

He is the former Zanu PF Deputy Secretary for Information and Publicity.

Reading a communiqué at the party headquarters, the party Deputy Secretary for Information and Publicity Ephraim Masawi said the Politburo unanimously welcomed Professor Moyo as a member of Zanu PF.

“The Politburo considered the application by Professor Jonathan Moyo to rejoin ZanuPF which was unanimously endorsed,” Masawi told a news conference.

Masawi said the politburo has expressed dismay at the lack of concern over the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Senator David Coltart and Finance Minister Tendai Biti towards the plight of pupils who had failed to pay examination fees which the parents could not afford.

He said the Politburo requested President Robert Mugabe to direct the two ministers to immediately rectify the situation.

The Minister of Finance also came under spotlight for dragging his feet on releasing funds to banks to enable them to extend working capital to farmers.

Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said an independent MP’s seat would not be affected if he or she decided to join any party of their choice.

Zimbabwe’s laws bar MPs elected on a party ticket to cross the floor as this results in automatic expulsion from Parliament once the party’s secretary-general notifies the speaker that the member is no longer with the party.

Prof Moyo yesterday expressed delight at being re-admitted into Zanu-PF.

“I am delighted to hear the outcome of the deliberations. I am sure the people of Tsholotsho, who know only too well that the development projects which speak for themselves across the constituency, were done with and through Zanu PF are also delighted about the outcome.

“In the meantime, I look forward to be working with comrades in the party for our great country to defend the legacy and gains of our liberation struggle and to make Zimbabwe the success story that our fallen sons and daughters of the soil wanted it to be,” he said.

Prof Moyo was expelled from Government and Zanu PF following his decision to stand as an independent candidate in the 2005 parliamentary elections.

Zanu PF had at the time reserved the seat for a female candidate, Musa Mathema, as part of its efforts to improve the status of women in the party.

The former Information and Publicity Minister was also dropped from the party’s Central Committee and subsequently the Politburo at the 2004 Zanu PF congress.

POLITBURO CONCERNED ABOUT MINISTERS

The Zanu PF party leadership expressed dismay at the lack of concern by the ministries of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture and Finance over the plight of students due to write public examinations in November.

“Denying these children the opportunity to sit their examinations violates their right to education, contrary to our policy of universal access to education for all Zimbabweans,” said Masawi.

“The Politburo found it scandalous that the children were not going to write their examinations on the pretext that there is no money yet Zimbabwe is sitting on a US$510 million availed by the IMF for relief purposes,” he said.

Government has since announced an extended deadline of October 16, which will also see candidates being allowed to pay the registration fees in monthly installments.
However, the students taking advantage of the arrangement will only be able to register for a maximum of six Ordinary Level subjects and three at Advanced Level.
The Politburo noted that the inability by parents to raise the fees was not their choice but a consequence of the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.

“In view of the aforegoing, the Politburo requested President Mugabe, in his capacity as President of the Republic and Chief Executive of the inclusive Government, to direct the Minister of Finance, Mr Tendai Biti, and Senator Coltart to immediately rectify the position and make sure all the students are afforded the opportunity to write their examination at the same time as the other 30 percent of the students who have already paid their examination fees,” he said.

The Zimbabwe Independent
By Faith Zaba
2nd October 2009

When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 President Robert Mugabe promised “Education for all by the year 2000”. Schools were built everywhere to ensure that every child had a school within walking distance. Secondary schools were added to primary schools in rural areas and tertiary education was also expanded, with the hope of ensuring that there was at least one university in each of the country’s 10 provinces.

To cater for adults who had not been able to receive education, the government’s department of Adult and Continuing Education focused on those who wanted to continue studying. In addition to adult literacy classes, free correspondence modules were supplied to villagers with no access to formal schooling.

Mugabe managed to create an education revolution, raising literacy rates in Zimbabwe to 98% by the late 1990s. The education system in Zimbabwe was named the best in Africa. But all this is now coming to nought –– and nowhere is this more evident than in the country’s rural areas.

According to shocking findings from the Rapid Assessment of Primary and Secondary Education report by the National Education Advisory Board released recently, an increasing number of pupils who enrolled for Grade 1 did not proceed to secondary school. In some provinces, like Matabeleland North, “the dropout rate was high, with over 50% dropout from Grades 1-7”.

Unicef estimates that the Grade 7 examination pass rates declined from 53% in 1999 to 33% in 2007, while 50% of Zimbabwe’s children graduating from primary school were not proceeding to secondary school. To worsen an already dire situation, close to 70% of students who were supposed to sit for Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations failed to meet the September 25 deadline to pay their exam fees.

In what can be described as a heartless response to the crisis, Education minister David Coltart this week said it was too late to do anything about the pupils’ plight. He went further to say any changes would disrupt the “smooth running” of the public examinations. How can they be smooth when 70% of students will have their four to six years of education thrown out of the window?

What angers most is the fact that Coltart is even aware that less than half of prospective candidates had registered. While he is estimating that slightly over 50% failed to register, teachers’ unions have put the figure at around 70%.

Coltart added that they are sticking to their deadline because the examinations had already been delayed enough by an earlier week-long extension on registration. Honourable minister, how were you expecting impoverished families in rural and high density areas to raise the US$10 and US$20 per “O” and “A” Level subject respectively in a week when they failed to raise that money over months.

Rural folk are already struggling to make ends meet. They rely on selling their agricultural produce to the cash-strapped Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and other such institutions.

Most farmers have harvested their maize and other cereal crops but they are not happy with the prices that are being offered by the private buyers. The prices are too low and farmers are not able to break-even or to recapitalise in preparation for the next cropping season. The GMB is buying at US$265 a tonne but does not have ready cash and growers have to wait for a long period before being paid. The farmers are now being forced to buy from private buyers at low prices such as US$165 to US$180 a tonne.

Did the government take these factors into consideration? –– Obviously not.

According to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the country’s unemployment rate is over 90%.
Those formally employed earn an average US$150 a month. The minister needs to explain to the nation how they arrived at the US$10 and US$20 a subject considering the country’s economic situation and employment levels. When Zimbabwe decided to localise examinations in the 1990s, the main reason was to make it affordable since examinations set by the Cambridge examinations board were expensive.

While the government is charging US$10 a subject for “O” Levels, it costs US$15 a subject for Cambridge examinations. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to see that there is no way the government figures can be described as affordable. Isn’t this tantamount to privatising the education system in the country?

If the government can source funds to buy luxury vehicles for legislators, how could it not try to raise money to subsidise the poor families in our societies. The reason for the extension was because they had realised that a significant number of students had not paid. Did anyone hear of any talk of government trying to find ways to ensure that the 30 000 plus pupils write the examinations? It is clear that there were no such efforts. Is this the bright future for the education sector which Coltart was talking about at the launch of the Basic Education Assistance Module recently?

The minimum requirement is five “O” level passes to proceed to “A” level or to qualify for an apprenticeship or gain admission at nursing and teachers’ colleges. Most jobs also require a minimum five “O” level passes. So what future do these children have?

Instead of making noise about outstanding Global Political Agreement issues the inclusive government should seriously sit down and find ways to ensure that the affected students write their examinations.

What is shocking is the deafening silence by all the parties. President Mugabe –– what happened to your dream of education for all and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai –– what happened to the promise you made at the signing ceremony of the GPA in September last year to prioritise education?

The Herald
Herald Reporters
2nd October 2009

GOVERNMENT has thrown a lifeline to all students who failed to beat the registration deadline for the November public examinations, who are now required to register by Friday October 16 and make arrangements to pay the exam fees on a loan basis.

Thousands of prospective candidates had failed to raise the US$10 and US$20 per subject at Ordinary and Advanced Level respectively, figures several parents said were beyond their reach.

The reprieve was announced late last night by Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart amid reports that many prospective students had since stopped attending lessons when it appeared they would not sit for exams this year.

However, those taking advantage of the extended deadline can only register to sit for six “O” Level subjects. Those writing “A” Level exams can only register for three subjects.

In a statement, Minister Coltart said the Government had reached the decision after consultations with the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council and the Ministry of Finance.

“Sensitive to the plight of parents and guardians which would have adversely affected the academic future of the prospective candidates, it has now been agreed that the Ministry of Finance will mobilise financial resources as advance payment to Zimsec and a loan to enable all prospective candidates to sit for the Nove-mber ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level public examinations.

“Henceforth, every prospective candidate is advised to proceed urgently and register with their examination centres with which they will make arrangements for repayment of the loan,” Minister Coltart said.

He said those registering from now would make monthly payments up to January 31, 2010.

“It is my hope that this arrangement will assist those children who have not been able to register to date because of financial difficulties.

“Regrettably, this arrangement may result in some further delays in the commencement of the examinations, but it was felt that this was a price worth paying to ensure that as many students can write the examinations as possible,” Minister Coltart said.

He said Zimsec would soon advise the public on when exams would begin.

“It is my hope that as we fully stabilise the (education) sector in the coming months this type of action will become a thing of the past,” he said.

Minister Coltart encouraged candidates to focus on the exams.

The U-turn came as reports filtered in that the affected students had stopped going to school since they were not going to write exams.

By close of business yesterday, there seemed little hope for the students after Minister Coltart indicated there was little Government could do to save the situation.

This had elicited a backlash from students, parents, teachers’ unions and political parties, who said Government appeared to be turning a deaf ear to the plight of those affected.

Minister Coltart was quoted as saying earlier in the day: “There is a lead time when you place an order for the examination papers to be printed and this should be done within 35 days.

“We only signed the contract last Friday and this means the examinations will only start in late October and will run until late November or early December.

“If we extend the deadline any further, it would mean we would go into Christmas without completing the examinations.”

Heads of schools in Harare and its environs had said they witnessed a significant decline in Form Four and Upper Six class attendance this past week.

Zanu-PF’s Youth League had slammed the Education Ministry for “failing to handle the situation properly”.

Party national secretary for youth Cde Absolom Sikhosana said failure to assist the students was detrimental to the development of the nation.

Teachers’ unions had estimated that as many as 70 percent of prospective candidates had failed to beat the registration deadline.

The Education Ministry had put the figure at slightly over 50 percent.

The Herald
Herald Reporter
1st October 2009

Parents and teachers have accused the Government of neglecting children after the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture on Tuesday said no provisions would be made to accommodate thousands of students who failed to register for the November 2009 public examinations.

Education Minister David Coltart said there would be no reprieve for those who failed to beat the September 25 registration deadline because the fees were beyond their reach.

Candidates were asked to pay US$10 and US$20 per Ordinary and Advanced Level paper respectively.

Yesterday, parents appealed to the Government to reconsider the decision, saying a united approach was the only way forward.

The parents said while they understood that education was an investment, they did not have money to pay the exam fees.

“The Government should have people at heart and consider what workers are earning. We actually look up to them for help but they are doing the opposite of what we expect of them,” said Mrs Mildred Gonye who said her son had not registered.

Another parent, Mr Renias Matende said it was Government’s responsibility to find a way of dealing with the matter in a manner that benefited the nation.

“If it is a Government with people at heart, it must reconsider its decision on this issue. These are really wasted years. I can’t imagine this is the end for my son,’’ he said.

Teachers Union of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Manuel Nyawo said Government — being the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council’s sole financier — should find a way to fund the body instead of allowing ordinary citizens to suffer.

“Thousands of students are facing a bleak future and this is not the time for Government to sit down and relax while people are suffering.Justice must be done especially for students in the rural areas where most parents are communal farmers,” he said.

He said Government must revive the education sector in a way that satisfied all stakeholders concerned. An official from the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Mr Ladistious Zunde said the crisis needed a bold decision from Government and Zimsec to save the situation.

“What has happened is simply killing our future leaders. These people who have been denied a chance are the same people who are going to lead the country tomorrow.

“If the Government is serious about the future then it must redress the issue and find a way whereby everyone benefits,” he said.

According to teachers’ unions, about 70 percent of candidates failed to register for this year’s exams.

On Tuesday, Minister Coltart said they understood that over half of ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level students had failed to register. Yesterday, Zimsec information officer Mr Ezekiel Pasipamire said although they understood that thousands had failed to register, they could not give accurate figures at the moment as they were still collating data from their offices countrywide.

“We are working flat out to find the actual number of those who have managed to register. All the provinces must have submitted their entries by tomorrow,” he said.

He said while they sympathised with those who had failed to register, they too were in a tight situation because they needed money to run the exams.

Newsnet
30 September 2009

The announcement by Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Senator David Coltart that his ministry is not further extending the O and A level exam deadline has raised serious concern with some quarters arguing that the ministry is taking the country back to the pre-independence era of the bottle-neck education system.

The announcement by Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Senator David Coltart that his ministry is not further extending the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level exam deadline has raised serious concern with some quarters arguing that the ministry is taking the country back to the pre-independence era of the bottle-neck education system..

At a time when the country’s education sector is striving to get back on its feet after a period of challenges among them, a prolonged industrial action by teachers and delays by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council, ZIMSEC to release results, it appears the journey towards the restoration of the country’s education sector is doomed.

Having inherited an education system founded upon a flawed policy of racial discrimination and a colonial prejudicial bottle neck system, which denied Africans funding in education, the new majority government managed to transform the country’s education landscape.

Due to a deliberate policy by the government which invested heavily in education and health, the country’s education system became the envy of the continent and various Zimbabwean professionals who are excelling in various capacities around the globe are testimony of the investment of the 1980s.

Problems have however bedeviled the education sector of late and on Tuesday, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart announced that there is not going to be a reprieve for thousands of ‘O’ and ‘A’ level students who failed to register for forthcoming exams before the 25th of September, which was the deadline for registration.

He said: “We are going to engange the cabinet. Its unfortunate that those who failed to pay before the cut off date will have to write their exams next year. We will ensure that they write next year.”

The decision has sparked debate. Chief Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children Father Taylor Nyanhete believes the Ministry’s decision is outrageous.

“It is a child’s right to write exams, and the decision by the ministry to bar those who failed to pay is not fair, they should sit down and discuss this issue and ensure that everyone writes the exams,” he said.

An educationist Mr. David Mutambara is of the opinion that even though the country needs to have a credible exam system there is no need for the ministry to charge exorbitant fees which the majority of parents can not afford.

It’s an issue of sacrifice and the responsible ministry should ensure that the exams remain credible as they had lost this in the past few years” said the veteran educationist.

What makes the situation worrisome is the impact of the decision not to extend the exam registration period.

Many parents are now asking whether this obsession with deadlines benefits the country in any way.

Others argue that it is ironic that the same ministry that is on the record for failing to publish public examination results on time has suddenly become so strict about deadlines.

What can not be disputed is that rules are made for people, not people for rules, thus it follows that if regulations can not benefit people , then the existence of such rules can not be justified.

The mere mention that 70 percent of students will not be sitting for their exams is enough to create social discontent in society. For this definitely smacks of the long gone Rhodesia era where education was a preserve of the elite few.

The Herald
By Felex Share
30 September 2009

THERE is no reprieve for thousands of secondary school students who failed to beat the registration deadline for Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations, with the Government saying it is too late to do anything about their plight.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart yesterday said any changes now would disrupt the smooth running of the public examinations, even though he admitted that less than half of the prospective candidates had registered.

Minister Coltart said they were sticking to their deadline which lapsed on September 25 because the exams had already been delayed enough by an earlier week-long extension on registration.

“It’s unfortunate that there is little we can do to assist those affected. We have to sign contracts with printing houses for the printing of the question papers, which we did on Monday. It is impossible for us to extend the deadline because printing companies have to know the number of question papers needed and they have a timeframe to do this for security reasons.

“Inconveniencing them means the integrity of the whole process will be compromised,” he said.

Minister Coltart said allowing the students to write without paying was not feasible because the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council needed the money urgently for the processing of the relevant materials.

“Running the examinations is an expensive process. Printing question papers only needs more than US$700 000.

“The papers have to be distributed to various centres and, above all, markers need to be paid,” he explained.

Minister Coltart said although he sympathised with those affected, they had no choice but to wait for next year’s June exams, when the Government might be in a better position to commit more resources to the education sector.

“I am deeply concerned because children have been denied the chance to sit for their final examinations after working hard for probably four or five years.

“It is an unacceptable situation but the Government has no resources to subsidise the fees,” he said.

Minister Coltart said while he could not give accurate figures at the moment, estimates were that slightly over 50 percent of prospective candidates had failed to register.

Teachers’ unions have put the figure much higher at around 70 percent.

The hardest hit are students in rural areas with many parents indicating that they could not afford to fork out US$10 and US$20 per “O” and “A” Level paper respectively.

It is understood that this year some of the students who did register cut down on the number of subjects they would be sitting.

“You will find that students doing eight subjects have managed to pay for only three,” said a Harare secondary school head.

Students require a minimum of five “O” Level passes to proceed to “A” Level or to qualify for an apprenticeship or gain admission to a teachers’ college or school of nur- sing.

Parents interviewed yesterday saw the development as a sign that policymakers were insensitive to the plight of their children.

“Government says it does not have money for our salaries so that means we also do not have cash to pay for the exam fees.

“They should just let the kids write without paying,” said Mr Desmond Kachepa of Harare.

Mr Tariro Chitsungire said such a crisis needed a bold decision from Government and Zimsec because thousands of children now faced a bleak future.

“This is a national issue which needs a united approach from all concerned.

“It’s better for them to allow them to write and then they withhold their results until they are paid up,” said a woman who only identified herself as Mai Dhehwa.

Chronicle
Chronicle reporter
29th of September 2009

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, will this week hold a crisis meeting with the Zimbabwe schools examination Council (Zimsec), to find ways of helping pupils who fail to register for this year’s November examinations.

The meeting comes in the wake of pleas for Zimsec to extend the examinations registration deadline, which lapsed on Friday with reports that about 70% of pupils failed to raise registration fees.

In a telephone interview yesterday Minister Coltart said the meeting with the examinations body would seek to help those who are facing financial constraints and were unable to pay for five subjects at ordinary level and three at advanced level.

He however, could not assure on chances of having the deadline extended, saying postponing the deadline indefinitely would have negative effects on the running of examinations.

The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture pegged the examination fees at US $10 for O-level and US $20 for A-level subjects.

This means parents or guardians would need to raise US$ 80 for a child sitting for eight subjects at A-level while an A-level candidate would require US $ 60 for three subjects.

Minister Coltart defended the examination fees as reasonable compared to those charged by other examination bodies worldwide.

For example, he said, Cambridge examinations body was charging US $ 40 per A-level subject while the costs of US $ 10 per O-level subject locally.

“I’m very concerned about the situation in schools. We understand that parents don’t have money but we also have to appreciate the cost of running examinations is high. We are charging a quarter of what Cambridge charges, which shows that government has already subsidised examination fees,” he said.

“I am in a dilemma because on one side I sympathise with parents while I also have to look at the cost of education. I believe extending the deadline is difficult because Zimsec has to know the number of candidates so that they start printing examination papers on time.”

Minister Coltart revealed that he was seeking the help of donors both locally and internationally to fund the running of examinations.

Zimsec spokesman Mr Ezekiel Pasipamire said the deadline lapsed on Friday and schools had started submitting entries to the examinations Council.

He could not ascertain the number of O and A-level candidates to sit for the final examinations since the entries were still trickling in.

Parents have appealed to Zimsec to devise an instalment payment system to enable pupils to sit for examinations before paying the full amount. They also called for improvement of standards in Zimsec to justify the payment of the examination fees.

Meanwhile, our Harare bureau reports that thousands of candidates who wrote ordinary and advanced level examinations from as far back as 2007 are yet to get their certificates, compromising the chances of furthering their studies or securing scholarships and employment.