Zimbabwe girls’ education gets massive boost thanks to the UK

July 13, 2012

AfricanBrains

By Nicholas Pescod

13 July 2012

It was announced on Wednesday that the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) would make a £12,000,000 investment to girls’ education in Zimbabwe. The investment will now allow over 23,500 girls from some of the poorest families in the country to attend and graduate secondary school.

The £12 million investment will enable Camfed, an organization dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa through the use of education, to provide more bursaries to secondary school students than previously possible.

According to a press release issued by Camfed, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts & Culture, Senator, David Coltart spoke in front of a crowd yesterday at Chifamba High School in Gurvue District yesterday. He said that it’s universally understood that educating girls is one of the most important steps in ensuring sustainable development.

“The Government of Zimbabwe has limited resources and because of this our education programmes to ensure equality and excellence in education are restricted,” Coltart said. “It is in this context that the work Camfed does is so critical and we are delighted that DFID has provided the generous support it has to guarantee that the good work Camfed has done in the past will continue.”

Executive Director and former Camfed bursary recipient, Angeline Murimirwa said the investment from DFID would allow Camfed and girls to realize their potential.

“It allows us to utilize the huge capacity and commitment existent in the national, district and community partners with whom we work,” she said. “It gives us the chance to transform the opportunities for a generation of girls today… and not ask them to wait for another year, decade or century.”

According to the Minister’s website, this isn’t the first time the DFID has invested in Zimbabwe. The DFID also donated roughly £24 million to the second phase of an education transition fund. The fund provides reading material, notebooks and other supplies to schools.

Since Camfed began in 1993, the organization has helped fortify better education for roughly 1.5 million children in five nations.