UNICEF Announces Successful Completion of Textbook Procurement Programme Under The Education Transition Fund Phase I
22 March 2012
Zimbabwe now one of just a few countries world-wide where every child has a set of textbooks in core subjects.
UNICEF today announced the completion of the first phase of the Education Transition Fund. All textbooks for the more than 2,300 secondary schools have now been dispatched. Combined with the primary school textbook distribution completed in 2011, this brings the total number of textbooks procured to around 23 million and will make Zimbabwe the only country in Africa with an estimated ratio of pupils to textbooks of 1:1.
The Education Transition Fund (ETF) is a multi-donor pooled fund guided by a steering committee, chaired by the Minister of Education Sports, Arts and Culture (MOESAC) Senator David Coltart. The ETF was established in late 2009 as a response to the decline in the quality of education and the lack of availability of textbooks and other teaching materials. The ratio of pupils to textbooks was estimated at around 10:1 in 2009 with a full 20% of primary schools having no books at all.
ETF funds are fully managed by UNICEF and, contrary to the Herald article published yesterday reporting on a parliamentary portfolio committee debate, all procurement has been conducted according to UN rules and regulations rather than government tender procedures. These rules dictate that bids are adjudicated on the basis of both quality and value for money. A Contracts Review Committee must approve all such procurement processes; such committees were comprised only of UN senior staff; these committees did not include any government minister or indeed any other government official and are subjected to the strictest conflict of interest, transparency, confidentiality and audit requirements.
The original target of ETF phase I was to improve the ratio of pupils to textbooks in primary school from 10: 1 to around 2:1. Due to the economies of scale, the successful procurement exercises using established UN procedures, as well as the willingness of the Zimbabwean publishing houses to act in the best interests of children, the ETF programmes was able to purchase textbooks at less than $1 USD per book. These savings not only allowed a 1:1 ratio of primary school books to be achieved but also enabled the programme to be extended to secondary schools within the same budget envelope; in total, 16.5 million more textbooks were therefore procured benefitting 2 million more Zimbabwean children. The total estimated combined savings to international donors, and ultimately to Zimbabwean children, has been more than 50 million USD across both the primary and secondary school procurement exercises.
The textbooks procured through ETF are in the following subjects-Maths, Environmental Science, English, Shona, Ndebele, History and Geography; only textbooks on the MOESAC approved list of books are procured and all are marked as strictly NOT FOR SALE. The three main Zimbabwean publishing houses, ZPH, Longmans and College Press, have all been awarded contracts under this programme for either primary or secondary schools, on a quality and value for money basis. As they hold copyright under Zimbabwean law, each publishing house selected their preferred printers. In addition to core textbooks, ETF phase I has also supported procurement of Braille books for children with visual impairments, minority language books, steel cabinets and stationery as well as a capacity development programme for School Development Committees. Phase II of the programme, which will commence in 2012, will focus on quality of education, school governance and access to education.