News Day

By Constantine Chimakure

6 May 2013

SCHOOLS open for the second term tomorrow. The education sector is slowly, but surely recovering from a decade of economic decay that resulted in massive brain drain. NewsDay Editor Constantine Chimakure (ND) last week spoke to Education minister David Coltart (DC) on the state of education in the country. Below are the excerpts.

ND: What is the state of primary and secondary education in the country?

DC: Although the state of primary and secondary education in Zimbabwe has greatly improved since the advent of the inclusive government and the sector has been stabilised, education remains in a state of crisis.

On the positive side there has been a steady growth in enrolments at primary and secondary level and objective data shows that access to education is improving.

The gender parity indices for the same years, ranging between 96 and 98, show marginal gender disparities overall. There has also been a significant improvement in the provision of learning materials and the textbook/pupil ratio in core subjects is now 1:1.

Whilst on the positive side enrolment has increased, provision of learning materials has improved the supply of qualified and competent teachers to all schools.

Objective data shows large disparities between schools in rural and urban areas with regard to the availability of qualified teachers. Learning outcomes, measured both through a recent sample-based learning assessment and public examinations, reveal a serious problem, particularly in the lower grades, where illiteracy rates are below expectations, which in turn cause learning achievement lags that persist, and worsen, as pupils progress through school.

Financing for education remains a serious problem with persistent low morale experienced by many teachers . . Although in theory education remains a top priority of all three political parties in the inclusive government, in reality the investment in education remains way below what it should be.

ND: What were the problems in education when you became minister?

DC: In 2008, the education sector virtually collapsed. It is estimated that in 2008 there were less than 30 full teaching days. Between 2007 and 2008 some 20 000 teachers left the profession. When I took office in February 2009 most of our 8 000 schools were not even open,

90 000 teachers were on strike, the Zimsec examinations which had been set the previous November had not even been marked and the textbook/pupil ratio was at best one to 15.

The headquarters building was in a complete state of disrepair with the lifts not working, all the toilets blocked and no water in the 18 story Ambassador House.

Ambassador House was emblematic of the entire (education) sector. Relations between teachers’ trade unions and the ministry were very poor. The curriculum was last comprehensively reviewed in 1986 and the recommendations of the Nziramzanga report had not even begun to be implemented.

It would take a book to explain in detail how most of these challenges have been addressed. Suffice it to say that four years on all our schools are now open. Last year we had the least interrupted education year in a decade, the textbook/pupil ratio is 1:1 and we are now starting to reform the curriculum and have commenced a programme to rehabilitate many of our schools.

The most important challenge to address in the beginning was to get teachers back into schools and to establish a rapport with the teaching profession. I started off with a series of meetings with the teacher trade unions and brought their leaders on to my national education advisory board. I ensured that the teacher trade unions were involved in the formulation of policy and, for example, were given an opportunity to have their say in the formulation of new education regulations.

I arranged for meetings between the Minister of Finance and trade union leaders so that they could understand the gravity of the financial crisis facing the Zimbabwean government. I also authorised the controversial policy of teacher incentives as I realised that government itself did not have the resources to pay teachers adequately. I stress that this was a policy which had already been implemented prior to me taking office and what I’ve tried to do is to refine the policy.

I also immediately engaged the donor community which in September 2009 established the education transition fund. Although government has picked up all of teachers official salaries, the bulk of the non-salary expenditure in the last four years has been paid for through the education transition fund. The fund has provided some 23 million textbooks and in the current phase two has embarked on a very ambitious programme of school grants (to be used to rehabilitate school infrastructure), curriculum review, teacher retraining, the establishment of an education management information system (a computer-based data collection system linking head office to or are provincial and district offices and ultimately all schools) and the teaching of out-of-school children.

ND: Tell us more about the sourcing of textbooks?

DC: In the last four years we have managed to source over 23 million textbooks for primary and secondary school children. All of these textbooks were sourced through the education transition fund from Zimbabwean publishing houses. All the books were printed within Sadc. Over three million children have benefited.

ND: To what extent did the teacher-brain drain affected our education and how many teachers are currently working in our schools?

DC: During the final years of economic turmoil prior to the establishment of the inclusive government, we lost approximately 20 000 teachers. Even more serious than the total was the fact that most of the teachers lost were our best qualified teachers, namely those qualified to teach maths and science.

The loss of these teachers has had the most serious impact on the quality of our education. Related to this has been the drift of qualified teachers from rural schools to urban schools which has resulted in a huge disparity for example in the Grade 7 results between rural and urban schools.

In 2009, I declared an amnesty and encouraged all teachers to return to work. That amnesty has been partially successful and we estimate that some 15 000 teachers have come back into the system. Sadly, however, many of our best qualified teachers remain outside of Zimbabwe as our conditions of service still do not match those available, for example, in South Africa. We now have approximately 106 000 teachers in our schools.

ND: What is the state of our schools in terms of infrastructure and learning materials?

DC: The state of the infrastructure on our schools remains very poor. In real terms the investment made by government in education has declined for the last two decades and this is primarily reflected in the crumbling state of most of our schools. There is also a serious shortage of classroom space, especially in Harare and Bulawayo, where many schools hot seat. In Harare we need at least another 30 more schools then we have.

Although the textbook/pupil ratio in core subjects is now good they remain very serious shortages of textbooks for ancillary subjects.

ND: How can the issue of teachers’ remuneration resolved?

DC: The issue of teachers’ remuneration can only be resolved when government recognises the teaching profession needs to be remunerated in line with the legal, medical, engineering and architectural professions. The countries in the world with the best education systems, such as Singapore, South Korea and Finland are also the countries where the teaching profession is one of the most revered professions. The teaching profession used to be one of the top professions in Zimbabwe 50 years ago, but is no longer respected.

In other words, government has to resolve to pay teachers substantially more than they receive now and work must be done to improve the living conditions of teachers especially in rural areas where many teachers live in ramshackle houses without access to acceptable ablutions.

Furthermore, teachers also need to be respected better by government and incidence of intimidation and violence directed against teachers must cease.

Sunday News

By Vusumuzi Dube

5 May 2013

The Government has warned schools wishing to increase their schools fees and levies saying all those that do not follow the necessary procedures will be dealt with accordingly.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart said school authorities could not unilaterally increase levies but there was a need for them to engage parents and 20 percent of the parents was mandatory quorum when intending to discuss any increment.

“We have been continuously communicating with all schools and they are fully aware of the procedures. For fees to be approved they should call a meeting with parents where 20 percent should attend and at least 75 percent of the said 20 percent must endorse the proposals.

“After this the school authorities are then mandated to communicate with the permanent secretary who will then approve the increment if the reasons stated are deemed satisfactory. But the school must prove beyond reasonable doubt that they adhere to all the set measures for us to approve,” said Minister Coltart.

He said it was an offense for school heads to hike school fees and levies without consulting parents, saying parents could approach the provincial or district education offices if their representative schools did this.

Meanwhile, Minister Coltart has reiterated that school authorities could turn away children for non-payment of tuition fees but said it was still illegal for them to be turned away because of levies.

He said parents must note that schools needed the school fees for their day-to-day functioning thus the need for authorities to use whatever means possible to have students chased away for non-payment of these fees.

“People must differentiate between schools fees and levies, fees are pegged by Government and they range between $5 and $15 dollars, these are the charges which schools have the right to chase away students for, besides these figures are just too minimal.”

“It is really unfair to expect school authorities not to chase away students for this minimal figure, the problem is that people tend not to differentiate between school fees and levies,” said the minister.

He said that is was unfortunate that some school authorities took advantage of this directive to chase away pupils for levies and other incentives.

“Levies and incentives are the only charges where schools can’t excuse students from attending lessons, however we have a situation where some authorities take advantage of this directive to chase away the school children for both levies and fees,” said Minister Coltart.

In another development, the minister said he was satisfied with the progress made in the education sector but said there were problems that needed to be taken care of in order for the sector to be effectively revived.

“I am pleased with the fact that the sector has stabilised considering where we are coming from but I must emphasise that we are still in a state of crisis and honestly we are still a long way off to say the sector has been effectively revived,” he said.

The Herald

By Herald Reporter

3 May 2013

SOME schools are demanding that parents pay full fees and levies before their children are allowed to register for the November Ordinary and Advanced Level public examinations this year.

The deadline for registration is today. This comes as Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart yesterday warned schools against barring pupils from registering saying everyone who had gone through the school curriculum had a right to register as a candidate. Minister Coltart said Government would punish any school authorities who deny children the right to register.

“Every child who has gone through the required stages should be allowed to sit for the examinations,” he said.

“Reports that some are being turned away are unacceptable because there is no law in the ministry which bars pupils from paying examination fees simply because they have not paid their tuition fees.

This is a critical stage in the life of the pupil and no prospective pupil should be denied the right to register.”
He said parents in school fees arrears should work out payment plans with school authorities.

The Herald

By David Coltart

1 May 2013

I have a great deal of respect for Firdose Moonda, ESPNCricinfo’s South Africa correspondent — she knows her cricket well and has an obvious passion for the game. However, I have to take issue with one aspect of her article this evening written in the aftermath of the Zimbabwe/Bangladesh test series.

In it she says that:

“Zimbabwe’s squaring of a series does not even put them on the Test rankings. They will need to play a minimum of eight matches in a particular period to qualify. If all their tours go as planned, they will play eight Tests this year and probably take up a position below Bangladesh. That is probably where they deserve to sit.”

Aside from the fact that Zimbabwe at present has 266 ICC test ranking points to Bangladesh’s 134 (and is only not on the rankings because we have not played the requisite matches) I disagree that Zimbabwe “deserves to sit” below Bangladesh.

On the contrary I think that Zimbabwean cricketers and cricket supporters deserve much better for a variety of reasons. Firstly, Zimbabwe is in fact potentially much stronger than this in terms of players which are eligible to play and Zimbabwean coaches.

The addition of Tatenda Taibu, Sean Ervine, Craig Ervine and Gary Ballance to the squad would strengthen it massively.

This may seem pie in the sky but I use the word “eligible” specifically – all are qualified to play for Zimbabwe.
In other words in different circumstances, in different conditions they would all play for Zimbabwe.

I am not blind to the fact that Taibu has “retired” and Ballance is hoping to play for England but I have no doubt that all would still play for Zimbabwe if the right conditions were created.

Likewise, we have such a wealth of cricketing coaching talent in the likes of Andy Flower, Davy Houghton, Duncan Fletcher and Paul Strang who are coaching leading teams elsewhere but who also love Zimbabwe with a passion and want to contribute to the game at home.

All who love the game of cricket in Zimbabwe do not deserve the climate which has made these players and coaches look elsewhere.

I have no doubt that if this wealth of talent and experience was fused with the superb budding young talents of the likes of Richmond Mutumbami Zimbabwe would become a strong cricketing nation — no longer a so called minnow.

That is our rightful place in world cricket.

Secondly, even from players who are eligible and available this was not the strongest team we can field.

Tino Mawoyo was sorely missed and the selection of a still injured Regis Chakabva over Sean Williams weakened our batting.

Williams has the highest first class average by some margin of ALL the current Zimbabwean players (43,1 – see the player averages on the cricinfo site), had a superb 2012/13 season for the Tuskers with an average of over 62 and was one of the few players who did reasonably well batting in the West Indies in his maiden Test match.
Indeed, it simply boggles the mind that he has only played one Test for Zimbabwe.

The failure to give our best batsman in the West Indies, Craig Ervine, a central contract forced him to choose club cricket in Ireland which pays considerably more than he would have got in Zimbabwe, and seriously weakened the batting line-up.

David Coltart is the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.

The Zimbabwean

By Chris Ncube

1 May 2013

James Bayanai’s commitment to empowering thousands of local young people was recognised internationally when he was selected to be part of the upcoming 2013 Young Leaders Unite Forum.

During the event, which is one of the world’s prime youth forums, young people will explore problems affecting their peers worldwide and proffer solutions.

Voices United, the international non-profit organisation, is arranging the exclusive event scheduled for Miami, United States on June 23 and 30.

The 30-year-old’s participation in the programme will enable him to enhance his leadership skills as well as give him an opportunity to work with peers from around the globe to address the global challenges facing youth.

Bayanai was selected for his role in international youth advocacy and for spearheading social projects in Zimbabwe.

“My visit will enhance social interaction and integration between local youth and their counterparts internationally,” he told The Zimbabwean.

Katie Christie, Founder and Director of Voices United, said while there were many qualified applicants for the young leaders united forum, Bayanai was chosen for his outstanding leadership potential and impressive commitment to community action.

“We are thrilled to be working with such an outstanding group of young leaders and eager for them to begin working together. We are looking forward to helping them develop their skills as leaders and connecting them to other impressive young leaders,” she said.

Voices United will cover Bayanai’s accommodation, meals, activities and transportation while local company, Oceane Collection Perfumes, has sponsored his flight to Miami.

Bayanai is in the process of building the first community library in Chirumanzu after forming the Zimbabwe Youth Development Foundation Trust in 2011 to source books from various international organisations.

ZYDFT has distributed more than 30,000 books to local rural schools. It also runs a rural scholarship, which is benefiting 25 disadvantaged children.

Bayananai’s initiatives have earned him invitations to a number of international forums where he has shared the stage with His Royal Highness, the Prince of Norway, Prince Haakon, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, local Education, Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart and prominentfootballer, Clarence Seedorf.

News Day

By Silas Nkala

29 April 2013

EDUCATION minister David Coltart has called for urgent government intervention to address what he called the marginalisation of the San community found mostly in Matabeleland South.

Coltart on Friday met Davy Ndlovu, who is the director of the Creative Arts and Education Development Association (Caeda), and other San community leaders in Bulawayo to discuss a number of grievances.

Caeda is a non-governmental organisation that advocates for the rights of San people in Zimbabwe.

“I met Ndlovu on Friday and he told me of the San people’s concerns, especially on education, and I can say they are marginalised in many issues,” Coltart told NewsDay.

“I agreed to visit them in their community to hear and see their problems.”

The minister said he was happy that the new constitution recognised all languages in Zimbabwe and this would in future ensure that Koisan language would be taught at schools.

“After meeting them (community leaders), I understood their concerns and would be visiting the area soon,” he said.

“It is a marginalised community and we will have to assist them with policy implementation to address their problems on education.”

The community leaders told Coltart that they wanted their language — Tshwao — to be included in the school curriculum among other minority languages.

One of the community leaders, Miziyabo Tshuma, said they also wanted the government to assist them to send their children to school.

“We are not able to send our children to school because most of us are not working and did not attain any education,” he said.

“We ask the government to come to our rescue and help send our children to school.”

On Wednesday, the delegation met Water Resources Management and Development minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo to inform him about the water problems affecting their villages in Tsholotsho.

New Zimbabwe

By Brian Paradza

26 April 2013

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai should be ashamed of the 18 percent pass rate recorded in the November 2012 Ordinary Level schools exams, Mavambo Kusile leader Simba Makoni has said.

Makoni said the two leaders’ silence on the crisis in the country’s schools was illustrative of their contempt for the education sector and a lack of interest in the future of the country.

Results from last year’s O’Level exams showed that 81,6 percent of the 172,698 students who sat for the examinations failed to pass at least five subjects with grade C or better.

Only 31,767 of that number were successful, translating to a pass rate of 18,4 percent.

Said Makoni: “I went to school in Rhodesia, and from that time up to about 1992, the competition at O level was not on how many did well; it was based on how many passed with a first classgrades because all the classes passed.

“The competition among St Augustine, St Ignatius, Kutama, Goromonzi High and Fletcher High was not on how many students passed five subjects; it was how many passed twelve subjects with grades A and B.

“Today we discuss how many scrap through with five Ordinary levels. And we still claim we have the best education in Africa at 18 percent pass rate!

The former finance minister said the Zimbabwe’s education sector has continued to slide backwards over the years with South Africa and other African countries scoring better results over the years.

“I was in South Africa recently. You know matrix examinations have always been a disaster, but they are a disaster at 36 percent not at 18 percent and that does not touch the hearts of our so-called leaders.

“How many of you wrote anything from Robert Mugabe about the 18 percent pass rate? Zero, How many of you wrote anything from Prime Minister Tsvangirai about the 18 percent pass rate? Zero. They are not worried about that, yet this is our future”, said Makoni.

Education Minister David Coltart blamed the disappointing results on the “extreme crisis in education experienced between approximately 2005 and 2009”.

“I’m afraid that this was inevitable. There’s been so much chaos in Zimbabwe’s education system in the last decade that it was inevitable that children’s education would be affected in this way,” Coltart said in February.

“If you don’t have teachers, if you don’t have textbooks, ultimately literacy and numeracy proficiency drops, and that is eventually reflected in examination results.”

He however added that the only positive development was that more and more children were sitting examinations after a decade-long economic crisis devastated the education sector and led to massive drop-outs and teacher flight.

 

The Herald

By Herald Reporter

24 April 2013

Government is struggling to pay examiners who marked last year’s public examinations with the markers still to get 60 percent of their allowances. Financial constraints within the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council have resulted in its failure to pay Grade Seven, Ordinary and Advanced Level markers. These are ordinarily supposed to be paid seven days after the end of marking.

The examiners were only given between 40 and 45 percent of their allowances in January and are yet to be given the remainder four months after marking ended.

Zimsec director Mr Esau Nhandara yesterday said Government had not released the US$1,5 million Grade Seven grant to the examination body, resulting in its failure to pay thousands of examiners who participated in the marking.

Zimsec does not charge pupils fees for Grade Seven examinations. Government meets the costs.

However, Treasury has not released funds, creating cash-flow problems and forcing Zimsec to divert “reserved money” for the examinations to take place. Mr Nhandara said they received US$550 000 from Treasury last week but would pay the examiners after getting the full grant.

“All in all we need a figure of about US$2,1 million to pay all the markers from Grade Seven to A Level, but we are expecting a total of US$1,5 million from Treasury,” he said. The markers were supposed to be paid between 90 cents and US$1,20 per script marked.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart yesterday said he would inquire from the Finance Ministry when the money would be paid.

“Who wants to work for nothing? We have been used and abused and now the June examinations are about to be written without us getting last year’s allowances,” a marker said.

“I do not think many people will dedicate themselves to that exercise because at the end of the day you get nothing.”

The marking of the examinations was delayed, as the examination body was waiting for Treasury to release the money to pay the markers. The marking only commenced after Cabinet ordered Zimsec to use its own resources. Over the years markers and the examination body have clashed over delays in paying them the allowances.

News Day

By Phillip Chidavaenzi

22 April 2013

EDUCATION Minister David Coltart yesterday hailed the restoration of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe following the re-dedication of St John the Baptist Cathedral in Mutare two weeks ago after the deposition of the renegade bishop Elson Madhodha Jakazi.

The rededication service, which was held on April 6, was led by the Bishop of the Diocese of Manicaland and Dean of the Province of Central Africa, Reverend Julius Makoni and the Archbishop of the Province, the Most Reverend Albert Chama.

“For all the terrible things that still happen in Zimbabwe it is important for us to recall some of the ways the good Lord has answered our prayers. In my mind one of the most heartwarming answers to prayer this year has been the restoration of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe,” Coltart wrote on his Facebook page.

He said the turn of events confirmed God’s faith after a hard trial that “has refined and strengthened” the Anglican Church in the country.

Over 3 000 Anglican faithfuls marched from the city centre to St John the Baptist Cathedral to witness its re-dedication.

The rededication was a consecration rite through which the parishioners sought to cleanse the cathedral after years of alleged defilement.

Jakazi withdrew from the Anglican Church’s province of Central Africa in 2007 and, with the assistance of the police, removed church members who had remained loyal to Bishop Chad Gandiya. Jakazi forcibly took over the church’s schools, hospitals, clinics and orphanages in the province.

The development set the stage for a bruising court battle that was eventually won by Reverend Julius Makoni.