14 September 2009
Moneybiz
HARARE – A $70 million education fund was launched in Zimbabwe on Monday that aims to provide a textbook to every child and eradicate a ratio of one book per 10 school pupils.
The fund, unveiled by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Zimbabwean government and international donors, is aimed at restoring the country’s education sector which imploded under a political and economic crisis.
“UNICEF has estimated that the ratio of textbooks to pupils is around one textbook for every 10 children,” said the agency’s country representative Peter Salama.
“The objective for the first year is to reach every child in Zimbabwe with a textbook within 12 months.”
Six months after the implementation of a unity government in Zimbabwe, the country once seen as one of the most literate societies on the continent still faces a crisis in schools lacking teachers and equipment.
Education Minister David Coltart said the fund, which will be managed by UNICEF, will assist schools where “the only textbook is the one held by the teacher”.
Zimbabwe’s teachers are currently striking to demand a basic salary of $500 (€340). They currently earn the $165 dollars paid to most government workers but the government has said it cannot meet the teachers’ demands.
Zimbabwe’s unity government formed by longtime political rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have appealed to donor countries to assist in rebuilding the economy.
Education Minister David Coltart, who said he “deeply regrets” the ongoing strike, has appealed to the government to allocate more funds to education.
“If we do not allocate meaningful resources in real terms to the education sector it will remain in a calamitous state,” he said.
“Most of our buildings are seriously dilapidated and they alone will require hundreds of millions of dollars to rehabilitate.”