The Zimbabwean
4 April 2009
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government said last week that it hadrun out of funds to complete marking of public school examinationswritten last year and whose results should have been out several weeksago.
Education Minister David Coltart told a meeting of the education sectorin Harare that results that should have been announced at the end ofthis month had been postponed to a later date while the governmentscrounges for cash to compete the marking of Ordinary and AdvancedLevel examinations.
“Marking of the papers is complete but there is no sufficient money tocontinue the exercise,†Coltart told delegates who also includedrepresentatives of several international aid organisations.
The results are traditionally announced by the end of February.
Coltart said his ministry was looking for more funds from donors tocomplete the marking to complement ongoing government efforts to sourcefunds from through the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The failure to process public school examinations highlights the rot inZimbabwe’s once envied educations system after 10 years ofunder-funding and mismanagement.
Classrooms have crumbled, textbooks are in short supply, while a severebrain drain that has seen thousands of teachers and other professionalssuch as bankers, lawyers, doctors and engineers fleeing Zimbabwe to goabroad where remuneration and living conditions are better has leftschools badly understaffed.
Teachers agreed to return to work after months on strike and to startmarking the examinations only after the new power-sharing governmentbetween President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangiraiagreed to pay all civil servants allowances of US$100 each per month.
Markers are also being paid in hard cash. But with production at eitherstandstill or well below capacity across all sectors of the economy,the government is fast running out of cash for allowances and for otherkey functions.
A SADC summit on Monday agreed to help raise US$10 billion from the international community to bankroll Zimbabwe’s recovery.
But rich Western governments with capacity to fund the unity governmenthave refused to provide support until they see evidence Mugabe iscommitted to genuine power sharing and to implementing comprehensivepolitical and economic reforms.