Zimonline
8 July 2010
By Sebastian Nyamhangambiri
HARARE — Zimbabwe’s once vaunted public education sector remains in “catastrophic state†short of cash to revamp dilapidated schools or lure back experienced teaching staff, Education Minister David Coltart told ZimOnline on Wednesday.
A unity government formed by President Robert Mugabe and former opposition foes, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara promised on assuming office last year to restore basic services, public education and health topping the list.
Western governments and international donors have also stepped up humanitarian aid including support for schools since establishment of the power-sharing government in February 2009.
But Coltart said education remains in the doldrums. He said: ?“I am afraid to say it is over a year after setting up of the coalition government but nothing much has changed in the education sector. The sector is in catastrophic state. We are long way off the mark. It will take time to recover since we have no adequate funding.â€
Coltart, whose efforts to try to revive education despite a largely non-existent budget are recognised by many Zimbabweans, was speaking in Harare at an occasion to receive computers and other equipment donated by the German government to the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council, in charge of public school examinations.
Zimbabwe’s education sector that was once revered as one of the best in Africa, is a shadow of its former self because of a severe economic crisis over the past decade that has seen government fail to pay market level salaries to teachers, maintain schools or provide learning materials such as chalks, textbooks and exercise books.
Teachers in Zimbabwe’s public schools earn an average US$236 monthly wage as the power-sharing government struggles to revive an economy battered by years of hyperinflation, lure back investors and pay its workers.
Many of Zimbabwe’s best trained teachers left the country a long time ago for foreign lands where salaries and living conditions are better.
The Harare government has said it requires US$10 billion to get Zimbabwe on its feet again.
But rich Western nations able to provide required grants and soft loans are reluctant to fund the administration directly insisting Harare must first step up the pace of democratic reforms, do more to uphold human rights and the rule of law before they give support.