SWRadio Africa
15 April 2010
In response to calls from residents, over the on-going education crisis, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association has invited the Minister of Education, Sports, Art and Culture, David Coltart to address residents. Residents in Bulawayo have passed complaints about the state of the country’s education system. It has seen teachers perpetually on strike, school development committees and parents at loggerheads while schoolchildren, like the proverbial grass when elephants fight, loafing around as if education had become extinct.
Minister Coltart is expected to explain the matter of teachers’ incentives that has been the cause of wrangling between, not only parents and school authorities, but teachers themselves. The minister has previously defended the payment of incentives that are used to motivate teachers as they are underpaid by the government.
However, one wonders what then his response will be after reports of clashes between parents and teachers that have become the order of the day in the city. The minister is also expected to justify or explain the unchanged examination fees that were announced recently. A number of schools failed to register candidates last year because parents were unable to pay the exam fees as they were too high.
More importantly though, Minister Coltart will receive suggestions from residents and stakeholders to help him chart the way forward and solve issues bedeviling the country’s education system.
The minister is set to address residents and other stakeholders on 17 April 2010 at the Large City Hall at 0900hrs. All residents are invited. This is a continuation of the
service providers’ consultative meetings that the association has been holding across the city. Like in other meetings, the purpose of this meeting is to provide a platform
for residents to air their views and concerns.