VOAÂ
By Irwin Chifera
21 May 2013Â
HARARE — The Global Partnership for Education, a multilateral partnership devoted to ensuring more children enroll in schools the world over, will Wednesday decide on Zimbabwe’s $23 million application for teacher-retraining as the country continues to revamp the education sector which suffered greatly at the height of the country’s economic and political problems.
Education Minister David Coltart revealed Tuesday that Harare had applied for money from the Global Partnership for Education to help re-train the country’s teachers.
He was speaking at a function where the European Union announced its $17Â million grant to the Education Transition Fund. The EU also donated $640,000Â towards nutrition projects in Zimbabwe.
Senator Coltart said he was optimistic that the application, which was made with assistance from Education Transition Fund partners, would succeed.
He said while enough books have been secured for primary and secondary schools under the education transition fund, there was need for a nationwide teacher re-training exercise.
Meanwhile, the EU ambassador Zimbabwe, Aldo dell’Ariccia, said Harare’s failure to adequately fund education is hampering the recovery of the sector.
He said this why the EU and other partners were supporting the education ministry, to ensure, among other things, that Zimbabwean boys and girls complete primary education by 2015 as set in Millennium Development Goal Number 2 by the United Nations.
The United Nations Children’s Fund acting head in Zimbabwe, Gianfranco Rotigliano, whose organisation is administering the funds, said the money would be used to improve the country’s educational infrastructure and the purchase of essential teaching and learning materials, among other things.