Zimbabwe Times
By Raymond Maingire
3 April 2009
HARARE – The government is under pressure to do away with this year’s June examinations following its continued failure to complete the marking of last year’s June and November public examinations due to a crippling strike by teachers over salaries.
Education, Arts, Sport and Culture minister, David Coltart told parliamentarians Wednesday that his ministry may consider jettisoning the June examinations.
He said government was still struggling to source funds to finance the staging of the examinations.
Coltart said his ministry had been inundated with calls from stakeholders who felt the June exams should be dropped to allow government to deal with those exams still outstanding.
He was responding to a question by Zaka Central legislator Harrison Mudzuri who asked what government was planning to do with regard to the June 2009 examinations.
Coltart said his ministry was recently given US$867 000 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to finance the marking of the June and November 2008 exams.
He said the marking of the outstanding examination papers was now 99 percent complete.
“We have made substantial progress in that regard,†said Coltart.
“We have almost completed marking every single paper except for geography. Ninety nine percent of the papers are now complete.â€
The process, said Coltart, was being delayed by the collating, upgrading and the capturing of the results into a database. He said the exam results could be out by the end of the next schools holiday.
Coltart, who is the Senator for Khumalo Constituency said a total of up to US$438 million was required within the next five months to restore stability to the education sector, once among the best in Africa.
He said this year’s budget allocation to the ministry was not sufficient to restore stability to the embattled sector in the short term.
In the absence of viable salaries paid to Zimbabwean teachers, Coltart said, his ministry was hamstrung in disciplining schools and teachers that demanded payment from parents outside the official fee structure.
“We will continue experiencing these ad hoc payment systems for as long as we are not able to pay viable salaries to teachers,†he said.
“This is going to take quite some time to stop. We can only start employing vigorous disciplinary measures against school heads and teachers once we start paying viable salaries to teachers.â€
Minister Coltart was responding to a question by Muzarabani South legislator, Edward Raradza who asked if government was aware some rural schools were demanding goats, chicken and even cattle as supplementary payment for teachers.
Like all civil servants in Zimbabwe, teachers are paid a monthly allowance of US$100, which is not enough for their subsistence.
Coltart defended his ministry’s decision to exempt rural pupils from paying school fees saying part of the higher fees being charged on low density schools in urban areas, including monies sourced from the treasury would be channeled towards the upkeep of rural schools.
Coltart was also responding to concerns by the parliamentarians who felt the decision to drop tuition fees for rural primary schools would, in the long run, impact negatively on the development of primary schools in rural areas.