The Financial Gazette
By Dumisani Ndlela
24 July 2009

Harare — HIGH school students received their results for the examinations they wrote in November last year just six weeks ago. A ministerial directive to government schools demanded that the children who had failed had to be withdrawn from school. Our Staff Reporter Dumisani Ndlela provides an insight into how students are being affected by the transgressions in the education sector.

EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD Tendai Sithole (not his real name), a bright and promising student, has always wanted to become a chartered accountant. Instead of being at school working towards his aspirations, he is sitting at home, bored and dejected.

“I hate it all,” said Tendai, who has been at home for well over a month now, showing great pain discussing the issue.

Like the majority of “O” Level students around the country, Tendai was allowed to enrol for “A” Level using mid-year school examination results. Schools settled on this policy after realising the Zimbabwe Schools Ex-aminations Council (ZIMSEC) test results would be significantly delayed.

The results, which usually come out during the first few weeks of the first term, only came out in May — six to seven weeks into the second term.

Soon after the results were ann-ounced, Education Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart issued a directive instructing schools to withdraw all “A” Level students who had failed their “O” Level exams.
Tendai was caught up in the ensuing storm. Tendai’s case represents that of hundreds of students across the country who became victims of a crumbling education system sma-rting from a host of problems.

The disaster has not only affected students wishing to proceed to “A” Level; even those planning on a university education, have been affected.

Augustine Kutama, a student at a Catholic-run school in Manic-aland had 7 As and two Bs for the nine subjects he wrote for “O” Levels in 2006.

As an accomplished and hard working student, he was determined to go to university and applied for a scholarship with a United States university.

The interviews for this scholarship were held in March.

He failed to secure the scholarship bec-ause he did not have “A” Level results. When his results finally came out in June, he had 2 As and a B or 14 points from three subjects, enough to have easily secured him the scholarship.

His father said if Augustine was not a religious person, he would have committed suicide.

Such blunders are blamed on a crumbling education system, whi-ch analysts said had recently become too familiar for high failure rates.

And this year, it resulted in thousands of students being turned away from school after initially being enrolled for “A” Level using mid-year school examination results.

A government boys’ high school in Harare decided to keep all their students who had failed.

They admit they are defying the ministerial directive, “but we realised our teachers would be left without classes because almost 70 percent of the students we have enrolled failed their ‘O’ Levels,” said a senior school administrator who cannot be named because of government policy.

But the high failure rate meant that teachers have the invidious task of teaching “A” Level students who were not properly qualified to do “A” Level, something that could further affect teacher morale in an environment of low incomes.

At the same time school authorities ack-nowledge that parents have invested heavily in their children by buying uniforms for summer and winter and had paid school fees for two terms.

“We’ve asked the students to rewrite the exams they failed in June. Remember, the students and parents had invested substantially towards this and it seemed unfair for us to just send them off,” explained the senior school administrator.

Teachers told of unprecedented failure rates in last year’s examinations, blaming government for turning a blind eye to teachers’ welfare and ignoring deteriorating standards in the education delivery system.

Teachers fled Zimb-abwe due to an economic crisis, going to countries like South Africa.

While others, mainly science teachers, were recruited into South African schools, the majority are said to be involved in manual work primarily in the construction industry and the hotel and leisure sector.
Now, schools are short of qualified teachers, and those currently serving in the system are frustrated by poor remuneration and working conditions.

Even as the inclusive government invol-ving the two Move-ment Democratic Cha-nge formations and ZANU-PF battles to right years of economic decline and resuscitate the ailing education system, sta-keholders said the situation remains dire.

Even if students are given the opportunity to re-write during the June sitting of the “O” Level exams they have not had much time to study because there was very little time between the annou-ncement of results and sitting of exams.

The high failure rates will continue to increase if the remedies are not sought for the challenges faced by the education sector.

Students studying for their “O” Levels explained that teachers give them the impression that the syllabi cannot be covered adequately during normal school hours and so they persuade parents that it is in the best interests of the students to participate in “extra lessons”.

During these extra lessons the teachers ensure that they cover a particular subject thoroughly and comprehensively in contrast to the rushed manner that characterises normal time class sessions.
The extra lessons cost US$2 per subject — a figure that is beyond the reach of the majority of Zimb-abweans.

Enoch Paradzai, the national coordinator of the Progressive Teac-hers Union of Zimb-abwe (PTUZ), said government had to take responsibility for the high failure rates, which he said was a result of ineptitude in government institutions as well as a failure to recognise the importance of teachers in the country.

The education sector last year was characterised by a number of disruptions for which, students, parents, teachers and schools have suffered immeasurably.

Most of the term teaching periods were disrupted by mass exodus of teachers of critical subjects, political violence that impacted heavily on teachers, teacher strikes, ZIMSEC staff strikes and national elections.

The impact of such disruptions has been felt by students, particularly those in exam writing classes.
Schools are still depleted of teachers, despite a government plea to lure them to help rebuild the grounded education system.

According to a Zimbabwe Teachers Association, at least 20 000 teachers have left the country for South Africa to look for greener pastures.

South Africa poa-ched qualified teachers from Zimbabwe last year because they had a shortage of teachers in their country.

A Harare-based sc-hool teacher, who declined to give his name for professional reasons, said the situation was worsening, despite public pledges to turn the education system around.

Schools still did not have text books, laboratories were unequip-ped, and those schools that closed due to political violence are struggling to win back the confidence of qualified teachers, who fled marauding gangs of political muggers terrorising mainly rural schools.

But more depressing, those teachers that returned after the government’s call say they have not received their US$100 per month allowances since being engaged and are on “go slow”.

“Most of us are hanging around hoping this will eventually impro-ve,” one female teacher at a high school in Kambuzuma said, indicating that staff morale remained low, and that teachers were only doing “as much as our pay is worth”.

Teachers from PTUZ have already embarked on a weekly boycott every — Friday — in an attempt to force government to review their working conditions and salaries.

This will inevitably add to a plethora of woes already besetting the education system.

Infrastructure is dilapidated, and most schools do not have reading material for students. One school teacher said students in her class were sharing one text book at a ratio of 10:1, making it available to any one of the students once in a fortnight.

The casualties will remain the students and inevitably, Zimbabwe’s future.

VOA
By Peta Thornycroft
23 July 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office and independent monitors are accusing President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF Party loyalists of hundreds of breaches of the political agreement that led to Zimbabwe’s inclusive government. The breaches are said to include the expulsion of several Movement for Democratic Change legislators from parliament.

Officials from Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office say he is to meet Saturday with South African President Jacob Zuma, the chairman of the Southern Africa Development Community. Mr. Tsvangirai is to present Mr. Zuma a list of 700 documented breaches of the political agreement negotiated between the Movement for Democratic Change and ZANU-PF last September.

The Southern Africa Development Community and the African Union are guarantors of Zimbabwe’s government of national unity.

Independent monitors say President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF has been more in breach than compliance with the political agreement.

Zimbabwe’s media monitoring project publishes lists of ZANU-PF media offenses, in weekly reports. For example, the project reports state-controlled media – including radio, television and the only daily newspaper – refer to Mr. Mugabe as head of state and head of government. This is in conflict with the agreement that stipulates Mr. Tsvangirai is head of government.

In addition, the MDC says scores of party legislators, students, activists, lawyers and ordinary party members have been arrested or are missing.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change holds a slim majority in Zimbabwe’s parliament, but some MDC parliament members are awaiting trial or have been convicted of crimes and have been suspended from parliament. The MDC says the charges against the parliament members are politically motivated.

Two MDC legislators were refused entry to parliament by senior ZANU-PF civil servants last week. Three others were also sentenced for longer than six months and expect to be refused entry.

Education Minister David Coltart told VOA there is zero compliance by ZANU-PF with the spirit of the political agreement.

Thabitha Khumalo is a member of the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee tasked to help keep Zimbabwe’s political agreement on track. She says the committee seldom meets and is “useless.”

Political analysts say Mr. Mugabe’s only legitimacy as head of state comes through the unity government, because he received far less votes than Mr. Tsvangirai in the first round of last year’s presidential election. Political violence drove Mr. Tsvangirai to withdraw from the run-off, in which Mr. Mugabe was the only contestant.

SW Radio Africa
By Violet Gonda
22 July 2009

Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, the Minister for Public Service, announced on Tuesday an increase in allowances for civil servants starting this month. Teachers will see their allowances go from $100 a month to $145 (after bank charges and taxes) while doctors will receive $170.

However, the salary increases have not been received well by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), which has described the increases as an insult to the teaching profession. PTUZ President Takavafira Zhou said teachers have now been put in grade D with a gross salary of US$165, which is a net salary of $155 and that is reduced further to $145, after bank charges. He said teachers feel betrayed as the salaries are still unreasonably low. The union has resolved to continue with its weekly Friday industrial action.

Furthermore the teaching fraternity is not happy that the pay day has been changed from Tuesday to next Monday. Zhou said many teachers had travelled to the cities to get their salaries, only to be told that they will receive their money on 27th July.

Leaders of the union have lashed out at Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Mukonoweshuro, as they say they are maintaining the ZANU PF hard-line stance of exclusion.

PTUZ Secretary General Raymond Majongwe is quoted by the website Kubatana saying: “Tendai Biti has continued and perpetuated the Zanu PF way of doing things . . .that he sits with whoever he sits with and he makes his presentations like Father Christmas without prior consultations with relevant stakeholders like trade unions.”

Zhou said it is on the basic principles of social engagement that his union is criticising the Finance Minister who went on to announce ‘a budget insulting to teachers’ without consultation.

With respect to Professor Mukonoweshuro, Zhou said: “We were hoping that this was a man, coming from a labour background and representing the MDC-T, would perhaps operate a new system.

Unfortunately he has maintained the status quo and continues to run the Public Service as if it was run by ZANU PF.”

We were not able to reach the Public Service Minister, but Zhou claimed Professor Mukonoweshuro ‘only consults’ trade unions that are perceived to tow the government line – such as the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA). He said: “On Tuesday the Public Service Commission met with the Apex Council (which engages with unions and civil servants) and unfortunately we were not even invited and we were not even privy to the discussions that took place.”

But the teachers’ body did have praise for their Education Minister, David Coltart. Zhou said Coltart is like former Education Ministers Dzingai Mutumbuka and Fay Chung, who listened and engaged all parties. “But unfortunately he is not getting the compliments he should be getting from the Public Service Commission, from Professor Mukonoweshuro as well as from his permanent Secretary Dr. Steven Manyere,” said the PTUZ President.

The Zimbabwe Telegraph
By Getrude Gumede
21 July 2009

ZIMBABWE – BULAWAYO – Zimbabwean civil servants, mostly teachers were on Tuesday stranded at banks after failing to access salaries amid reports that the payday has been deferred to next week.
By 8am, scores of teachers were seen queuing at banks in anticipation of withdrawing salaries but they were shocked when told by bank officials that their account balances did not reflect salary deposits.

The teachers, who also professed ignorance about the amount of money they would be paid this month, were furious over the delay in payment of salaries.

However, the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture sent a circular to teachers informing them about the deferment of the payday from 21 July to 28 July.

Contacted for comment, the Minister David Coltart said he was not aware that teachers were yet to receive their salaries.

He promised to “do all I can to make sure that teachers are paid on time.”

A teacher who asked not to be named said: “I went to the bank this morning expecting to get my salary but I was left stranded because there was no money. We urge the Government or rather our parent ministry to notify us in advance before we make our way to the bank only to be told that there is no salary.”

The civil servants said they were struggling to make ends meet with the US$100 allowance and the delay in payment of salaries has worsened the situation.

They said it was disheartening to note that the Government was taking time to give them payslips to enable them to budget accordingly.

“Considering that we got paid a paltry US$100 last month, the Government should be sensitive and make sure we urgently get the money for basic needs. After all, we don’t even know how much we are supposed to be paid,” said a civil servant.

The delay in salaries could be that the Government announced the budget allocation for employment costs on Thursday last week.

The Public Service Commission is said to be still in the process of calculating the salaries using the guidelines that were released by Finance Minister Tendai Biti, last week.

Minister Biti increased employment cost for the public service from US$377 million to US$528 million and set aside an additional US$151 million to year-end to support implementation of a modest pay structure.

He also allocated a further US$14 million per month over and above the current US$34 million to support a review covering the period from July 2009.

Salaries for civil servants were scrapped in March when the inclusive Government adopted multi-currency system after demonetising the Zimbabwean dollar.

The Government employees were offered US$100 allowance per month.

Civil servants have been threatening to strike over the US$100 but the re-introduction of salaries put their anxieties to rest.

ZimOnline
by Andrew Moyo
16 July 2009

HARARE – The militant Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) yesterday declared it would take its demonstrations over salary increments to President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s offices after an attempt by protesting members to meet Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro failed on Monday.

PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou told ZimOnline that they felt Mugabe, a former teacher, would understand their grievances more than any other person in government but they would have to approach the PM before staging demonstrations at the veteran leader’s offices.

Zhou said about 200 teachers demonstrated in Harare on Monday under police escort.

“We went to the Public Service Commission but because they had already heard that we were coming they all disappeared leaving only secretaries manning offices,” said Zhou, adding that the protesting teachers were insulted by the secretaries.

“They asked us why we behaved as if we were the only one in need of money.”

The PTUZ leader said: “We have discovered that Mukonoweshuro has renounced his responsibility and is not prepared to entertain us. So we have resolved that demonstrations will now target the President and the Prime Minister’s offices. We will start with the PM’s office. If nothing is done we will go to the President’s office, one of the first successful teachers in Zimbabwe.”

Teachers have been battling to get the government to review their current earnings from the US$100 monthly allowance that government pays all its workers to US$454, embarking on a Friday class boycott and threatening to intensify the action if government fails to address their concerns.

Last week, the PTUZ staged demonstrations in several cities but were blocked by the police in Mutare, Gweru, Kwekwe and Chinhoyi, where they filed High Court petitions to have the police action declared null and void.
The courts were still looking at the applications, according to Zhou.

“We have filed High Court orders in these towns because police prevented teachers from demonstrating, even after initially approving our applications. There was a 75 percent success, 75 percent school closures were registered in these areas. In Harare we will be demonstrating next week,” the PTUZ president claimed.

He said 150 PTUZ members had downed chalks in Masvingo, 130 had not gone to work in Bulawayo, 145 teachers were participating in the demonstrations in Chinhoyi and 85 teachers had gathered for the demonstrations in Kwekwe before police said they could not go ahead.

Demonstrations could not take place in Harare because the PTUZ felt there were so many programmes going on at the time, including preparations for the constitutional conference.

Education Minister David Coltart told ZimOnline last week he had received reports of the demonstrations in Bulawayo but he had not heard of any reports in other parts of the country.

Coltart has in the past met teachers’ union leaders to urge them to be patient as the government tries to mobilise resources from donors to improve salaries and working conditions.

On Monday last week the largest union representing teachers in the country, the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA), threatened to go on strike if they did not get a pay rise by month-end.

Zimbabwe Telegraph
By Getrude Gumede
16 July 2009

HARARE – The Zimbabwean Government has re-introduced salaries for civil servants with effect from 1 July, a development that will see public service employees earning varying figures according to grades.

Presenting his mid-term fiscal review statement at Parliament Building in Harare yesterday, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, increased employment cost for the public service from US$377 million to US$528 million and also added US$150 million for salary review support.

Civil servants salaries were scrapped in March when the inclusive Government adopted multi-currency system after demonitised the Zimbabwean dollar.

The Government employees were offered US$100 allowance per month.

He said of the budget, civil servants salaries gobbled 70 percent while 30 percent was dedicated to schools, hospitals and upgrading of infrastructure such as roads.

The introduction of salaries put to rest anxieties to civil servants who were complaining over the US$100 allowance.

The civil servants were threatening to go on strike demanding a decent living wage, arguing that the US$100 allowance was inadequate.

The Minister also admitted that the US$100 could not cater for the needs of civil servants.

“We are reviewing remuneration for the civil servants but the salaries will depend on grades. We want to thank the civil servants for understanding and patients during the harsh economic environment,” said Biti.
He announced that civil servants would receive bonus at the end of the year, emphasising that the Government was keen to restore the culture of saving among workers.

“We want to guarantee the 13th cheque to the civil servants,” said the Minister.
Minister Biti defended the salary figures, saying the Government had no money to pay civil servants high salaries.

He said an audit was underway to flush out ghost workers from the Government’s payroll.
Early this year, the Minister of Education, Sport Art and Culture David Coltart revealed that there were 90 000 teachers on the payroll yet teacher organisations estimate that there are less than 30 000 educators.

“The audit on Government workers is expected to produce a proper payroll. We want a detailed profile of civil servants,” said Biti.

Civil servants, mainly teachers had started protesting against the US$100 allowances but the announcement of the new salary structure is expected to boost the morale for Government workers.- The Zimbabwe Telegraph.

The Zimbabwean
By Natasha Hove
15 July 2009

BULAWAYO – A Christian NOG, Blue Diamond, is set to build a secondary school and a clinic for underprivileged girls here. Eric Bloch, the chairman of the organisation, said the project sought to
empower underprivileged girls through the provision of free secondary education and skills building geared towards gender equality.

“Girls have been discriminated against a lot, they are abused, neglected and forced to drop out of school. But this organisation seeks to get them back into formal education. We want to develop a more confident girl child who can fully exercise her rights in society,” said Bloch.

The Minister of Education Sports Arts and Culture, David Coltart, who was the guest at the launch applauded the idea. “If we don’t promote the girl child, the nation will never achieve the aspirations that we aspire to have as a nation,” said Coltart.

The organisation will target HIV-orphaned girls, teenage parents and victims of all gender based abuses. “As an organisation we believe these young girls have the right to go back to school despite their past experiences,” said Bloch.

“We have already found proposed sites in Emganwini and Killarney suburbs but we are still waiting for the Bulawayo city council to approve them. We have spoken to the mayor (Thaba Moyo) and he seemed to be enthusiastic about the idea. We hope that the project will get the council’s approval,” he added.

ZimOnline
by Chenai Maramba
14 July 2009

MAGUNJE – Temporary teachers in Mashonaland West province’s Hurungwe district have pulled out of schools after working for the past five months without receiving their allowances from the government, ZimOnline has learnt.

The teachers accused education ministry officials at Magunje growth point – some 245 kilometres north-west of Harare – of “bungling and failing to submit their (contract) forms to Salary Services Bureau (SSB) on time”, resulting in the teachers going for almost half a year without receiving the monthly US$100 allowance government pays all public workers.

The SSB processes payment for all government employees centrally in the capital Harare.

”I have given up continuing to work on voluntary basis as I can not get even the allowances given to all civil servants for the past five months and officials here are refusing to let me have my forms so that I can take them to Harare,” said a frustrated untrained teacher from Zvimonja Secondary School, a further 50km from Magunje, speaking on condition he was not named.

Ministry of Education officials at Magunje admitted that there were hundreds of contract forms gathering dust at their offices after they were returned from the SSB because they had some information missing.

”It’s unfortunate that hundreds of contract forms of both trained and untrained teachers are gathering dust here as they need to be completed with vital information but nothing is being done to have them delivered to concerned individuals,” said one source at Magunje.

He added that some forms had been lying at the offices since February after they were returned from the SSB so that the applicants could fill in details of their foreign currency accounts following government’s introduction of use of foreign currencies.

Hurungwe district education officer Muchineripi Ndewere refused to comment on the matter and provincial education officer Sylvester Mashayamombe only said ”Mashonaland West has enough trained teachers” before hanging up the phone.
However Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou admitted that some teachers including those on full time employment contracts were yet to get their allowances from government since the beginning of the year.

”We have at least 10 000 members including trained teachers who are yet to get their allowances because of bungling by district education officers around the country. While government is yet to pay salaries we thought the allowances must be uniform and disbursed quickly to the concerned teachers,” the PTUZ boss said.

He added that most of those affected were those who were re-assigned when they rejoined the education ministry after absconding due to political and economic challenges afflicting Zimbabwe over the past decade.

Last week teachers said they would boycott classes every Friday in protest against government’s failure to adjust their salaries and vowed to intensify the industrial action if government did not address their concerns.

The teachers are demanding a salary of US$454 per month, up from the current US$100 a month.
Education Minister David Coltart was not immediately available for comment on the matter.

While Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe’s unity government formed in February has managed to reopen schools and hospitals, its failure to attract aid from rich donor countries has left the administration struggling for cash to meet day-to-day running costs.

Harare Tribune
13 July 2009

Zimbabwean police keep watch on militants of President Robert Mugabe’s party who disrupted proceedings on the first day of the all stakeholders conference on the constitution making process in Harare, Monday, July, 13, 2009. Mugabe’s supporters were chanting party slogans and singing revolutionary songs which brought the programme into disarray.

There are many factions in ZANU-PF fighting for power and influence. Only rarely do these factions pull as one against common enemies. In Harare today, the ZANU-PF factions came together in a show of unity when they successfully broke up the constitutional conference that had been organized to write a new constitution for Zimbabwe.

The All Stakeholders constutittutional conference had been postponed from last week to today following vehement objections by ZANU-PF insiders on the constitutional select committee.

The first All-Stakeholders Conference on the new constitution had been envisaged to be attended by 4 000 delegates from interests groups specifically invited by the Parliamentary Select Committee co-chaired by Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana (ZANU PF), Douglas Mwonzora (MDC T) and David Coltart (MDC M). Today, the Harare Conference Centre was filled to capacity, with over 5000 delagates having arrived for the venue.

Ahead of the conference, an buoyant Mwonzora had enthused that “Everything is on course. Delegates started arriving on Sunday. We don’t forsee any major problems.”

However, before the conference began, militant backers of Robert Mugabe stormed into the meeting, disrupting what was meant to be a milestone in the nation’s fragile power-sharing deal.

The protesters were led by Mugabe’s nephew, parliamentarian Patrick Zhuwawo, and self-styled leaders of veterans of the liberation war.

As the speaker of parliament Lovemore Moyo gave his opening speech, the protesters began singing in Shona: “Zimbabwe was brought by blood”.

“This country was won by the gun, not a constitution,” yelled one woman from the group as they marched to the podium, grabbed water bottles from tables and splashed lawmakers.

“Nothing is going to take place here,” one protester said through the public address system, as others ripped off table cloths, sending crockery crashing on the floor.

Police were on hand but took no action against the protesters. The meeting eventually collapsed as frustrated ministers and parliamentarians walked out.

Tensions were high even before the opening, as political rivals sang songs denigrating each other.
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had been expected to address the meeting, but neither showed up.

The two bitter rivals formed a unity government in February in a bid to end deadly political violence that erupted after last year’s disputed elections.

Under the power-sharing deal, Zimbabwe is to draft a new constitution that is to be brought to voters for approval in a referendum next year, paving the way to fresh elections.

The new government has halted the economic haemorraging that left the nation impoverished and dependent of foreign food aid after a decade of world-record hyper-inflation.

But so far the Mugabe has proved reluctant to accept major political reforms, maintaining control over security forces while pressing ahead with prosecutions of rights activists.