Every sphere affected by chaos

The Zimbabwean

By Steve Eldon Kerr

14 August 2012

Senator David Coltart last week called for the diaspora to assist in Zimbabwe’s education and sports sectors, at an event organised by the Zimbabwe Business Network.

Speaking at the Royal Overseas League in London, Coltart, Minister for Education, Sports, Arts, and Culture, said that while the education and sporting systems have stabilised, they need all the help they can get to thrive in the future.

“If you want to know about the state of the education sector in Zimbabwe, just take a look at the number of medals, zero, we won at this Olympics; the sporting and education sectors are in similar states.”

“I disagree with criticism of our sports teams, Olympians and others, but I do think the results reflect the state of our country: every sector has been affected by the chaos,” said Coltart.

The Minister then outlined a five point plan to revive the education and sports systems – improving the status of teachers, rehabilitating physical infrastructure, reviewing the curriculum, improving governance, and focusing resources on the very disadvantaged – and suggested ways the diaspora can involve themselves in the plans.

“In Matabeleland South we have lost almost all our science, maths, and english teachers to South Africa, so we want to encourage Zimbabweans with those skills to come back and help,” said Coltart.

He highlighted the curriculum review, and the planned launch of 20 “academies” – schools with more autonomy to focus on student needs – as areas that diasporans with technical and administrative expertise could play a useful role in.

“We know that there are Zimbabweans who are working abroad, and who have seen many positive ideas that we could incorporate into our curriculum, or have seen things that we definitely should not include, and we need those people to help us design and administer the new education sector.”

Coltart admitted that the government has no specific diaspora policies currently in place, but said he would do as much as he could to assist those trying to come back or invest in the country.

“Funding remains a huge problem, but Zimbabweans abroad can sponsor a child’s education,” said Coltart.

“They can also pressure the government to change priorities: so far this year we have spent $35 million on defence and $5 million on education – that is not right.”

Within sports, the Minister cited the example of Kirsty Coventry. The swimmer, who has won seven Olympic medals for Zimbabwe, “will be coming home to Zimbabwe soon to open an academy for talented swimmers,” said Coltart.

“Zimbabweans in the diaspora can help our sports teams by identifying talent playing abroad or by identifying sponsors for our athletes. Sometimes I think that Zimbabwe could have one of the best Rugby teams in the world: the Australian captain is originally Zimbabwean, and so is the Scottish fullback, but they have already started playing for other countries. We need to try and get them back to Zimbabwe.”

Coltart acknowledged that many Zimbabweans now have homes and families abroad, and said he didn’t want to pressure people to return, but to see what they could arrange.

“We won’t all be as successful as Strive Masiyiwa [Econet founder], who sponsors 42,000 children through school, but we can all help.”