The ZimbabweanÂ
By Edgar Gweshe
16 July 2013
The credibility of the next general election slated for July 31 is critical in improving efficiency and restoring sanity to the country’s education sector, the Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture, David Coltart, has said.
Coltart told The Zimbabwean in a telephone interview that credible elections would ensure that policies implemented during the tenure of the inclusive government which had improved the education sector would continue to be improved.
He said that continued donor support for the country’s education sector hinges on the outcome of the next elections hence the need for Zimbabwe to ensure the polls are as credible as possible.
In May, the European Union delegation to Zimbabwe contributed $17 million to the second phase of the Education Transition Fund which has seen Zimbabwe reaching a 1:1 pupil/textbook ratio.
This month, EU head of delegation, Aldo Dell Ariccia, told The Zimbabwean that the continental block was ready to increase funding to developmental projects in Zimbabwe working with a government that comes out of free, fair, transparent and credible polls.
“The elections must be credible and after the elections, it’s important to ensure that policies that had been put in place continue to be implemented. Already, we have money that is waiting to be spent on a variety of projects and without donor support, it’s hard to think where the money to fund the education sector will come from,†said Coltart.
Coltart warned that sham polls would likely reverse progress made so far in restoring sanity to the education sector in Zimbabwe.
“In the last four years, we have stabilised the education sector and now, we are supposed to implement a variety of programmes to improve the efficiency and quality of the education sector.
Obviously, there will be a huge concern whether policies implemented over the past four years will continue to be implemented.
“My worry is that if the policies we have implemented over the past four years are going to be reversed after the election, that will have a very negative effect on efforts to restore sanity to the education sector,†said Coltart.
Coltart expressed concern that some political activists from some parts of the country were failing to heed calls to desist from using learning institution for political activities.
“I am still concerned about schools being used for political rallies but I haven’t yet received reports of teachers being kidnapped,†said Coltart.
Last month, the Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Raymond Majongwe told The Zimbabwean that victimisation of teachers in some rural areas had escalated ahead of elections.
He said teachers were being victimised for their alleged allegiance to the MDC-T.