Sunday News
By Vusumuzi Dube
10 February 2013
WHEN Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels first conceptualised capitalism, one of the key components that they touched on was that of mass production, their mindset was society was controlled by the bourgeois who employed the masses to produce goods and services en-masse.
The focus was on production and any arm of that society that was seen not to be producing was immediately cut off, as it was not productive at all.
Even in modern-day industry, according to the hierarchy, if a manager, foreman or even supervisor is seen not to be doing what he is employed to do — producing goods or services — they are immediately dismissed and the owners of that company hire a new individual who will be in a position to offer what he or she is employed to do.
In the footballing world, when a soccer coach does not produce good results, the team losing or not winning any accolades, the coach is immediately relieved of his or her duties. Even during a war period when a certain army loses, it is not the entire army that is blamed but the commander of that army.
This is a norm that is accepted by every society, the principle being — if you do not produce results there is no need to keep you as this is not good in production terms. Even the holy book the Bible spells it out clearly that those who do not work and produce should not eat.
All the above examples have one standpoint — that if one does not produce why keep them?
This past week has been quite a dark one for the nation with the media awash with the paltry Zimsec Ordinary Level results.
According to the statistics, the O-Level pass rate for 2012 was pegged at 18,4 percent, which the examination body said was “marginally lower†than that for 2011 which was at 19,5 percent.
While this might appear as not that severe from the onset, its magnitude can be easily realised if it is considered that the nation recorded a fail rate of a huge 81,6 percent.
In terms of figures out of 172 698 only 31 676 students managed to pass five subjects or better.
Gender wise, females recorded a 16,4 percent pass rate while 20,4 percent male students managed to attain five subjects or better.
Subject wise, the top three subjects were Ndebele, Business Studies and Biology respectively that recorded 54,4 percent, 53,7 percent and 52,96 percent respectively. The bottom three subjects on the other hand were English Language — 20,19 percent, Shona — 18 percent and Mathematics (non-calculator version) — 13,91 percent.
This O-level pass rate issue came just two weeks after Zimsec announced that the Advanced Level pass rate for 2012 had also “marginally dropped†to 82,09 percent from 85,2 percent the previous year.
According to the figures, females performed better than their male counterparts, as they recorded a pass rate of 83,78 percent compared to the male figure of 80,83 percent.
The highest passed subject was Food Science with 96,95 percent, followed by Ndebele 94,7 percent while the bottom two subjects were Geography with 54,27 percent and Accounting with 38,27 percent.
With the examples stated above the main bone of contention is thus who really is to blame for these pathetic results because at the end of the day there is a service provider who is paid to teach these students and examinations are not only a test for the students’ capability but also serve as a litmus test on the performance of the teacher.
The basic principle being, if a teacher is wholesomely and jealously delivering what they are trained and paid to do these students should be performing above average.
It has become the norm that right through the year teachers are always complaining of paltry salaries and now most of them are “making a killing†through incentives and private lessons.
With these results, it is as good as saying these teachers have been performing a different kind of criminality where they are being paid for a service they are not even producing. In other words parents and the Government part with large sums of money just for the teachers to fail their children.
This pass rate becomes a dangerous reflection for a country which boasts of having the highest literacy rate on the African continent.
It becomes very disappointing to note that instead of worrying about the paltry results the Education Ministry is going about defending the results in other words finding excuses for the failure of teachers to deliver good results.
As one of Africa’s greatest leaders, former South African President Nelson Mandela once said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the worldâ€, it is time for all the relevant authorities to seriously look into this issue before our education standards nosedive.
Education is by and large the bedrock of social and economic development, it is one fundamental tributary to a nation’s development, throughout history, philosophers like Aristotle and Plato recognised the importance of education both in terms of development and every day leaving.
An examination period is a very critical stage for any nation as it serves as a litmus test to whether the education standards are improving or falling.
Sunday News interviewed various stakeholders to get to the core of this pass rate, what it means to the country’s education sector and what the way forward is.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart acknowledged that the country’s education sector was in a crisis but attributed this to a number of factors  which include the crisis that was experienced in the sector between 2004 and 2009 where they lost over 20 000 teachers.
He, however, revealed that while Zimsec had initially tried to reduce the minimum pass mark he had immediately blocked this as it was not going to be a true reflection of the education standards.
“What you see is a true reflection of the state of the education sector. I personally refused any attempts to lower the standards, now that we have these pass rates it becomes easy for us to plan for the future.
“However, what we should not ignore is that in 2008 there was hardly any teaching that took place in schools, teachers were hardly in the classroom, students did not have any textbooks and unfortunately this batch of students are the ones now coming through the system,†said Minister Coltart.
He said the onus was now on the Government to invest more in the education sector and prioritise funding and investing adequately in the sector.
“We now have to clearly map the way forward, yes we have managed to bring back 15 000 teachers into the system but we now have to seriously look into our retraining exercise and also strive to reduce the number of unqualified teachers within our schools,†said the minister.
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Mr Takavafira Zhou said while the pass rate was a cause of concern, morale was low among teachers and the civil service as a whole thus there was a need for Government to give them better salaries.
“Government holds the key to improving the pass rate, for teachers to offer their whole they should be given the necessary salaries, honestly results can only improve when teachers are top priority of the Government,†he said.
Zimta chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu said while the marginal decline was just a standard diversion from the norm, the main problem within the education sector was the inadequate funding to the sector, staff de-motivation and lack of the relevant teaching infrastructure.
“We really have a serious issue with regards to the funding of the sector, teachers are de-motivated and always complaining about their low salaries. We also have a notable increase in temporary teachers in our schools this thereby exposing students to teaching by unqualified personnel.
“There is thus a need for all relevant authorities to urgently address this matter because when you look at it we are busy funding for the sake of maintaining education rather than improving it,†said Mr Ndlovu.
Questioned on the issue of parents having to part with huge sums of money through teacher incentives while the pass rate was still low, Mr Ndlovu said it was unfair for the parents to tally incentives to an increase in the overall pass rate.
“From the onset we have said incentives were a mere means of supplementing the teachers’ salaries, you have to ask yourself whether these incentives are there to motivate or as a thank you token, my view is that they are there to motivate.
“It is scientifically not being sincere if we say these incentives are meant to improve the pass rate, I guess the only solution is for us to go back to the old system where it is the benevolence of the parents to thank the teachers with Government giving them adequate salaries,†said Mr Ndlovu.
Speaking on behalf of the parents, Bulawayo United Residents Association (Bura) chairperson, Mr Winos Dube, however, said it was unfair on the part of teachers to receive incentives from parents with an open palm but on the other hand not provide the required services this, reflected by the “pathetic†pass rate.
“There is something amiss in this whole issue, initially teachers complained of the low salaries and as parents we decided to go an extra mile to supplement their salaries by the paying of incentives with the hope that they would give their support to the students but we now get these disappointing reports.
“While the teacher can argue that they are not happy with their employer, parents have parted with huge sums of money to avert this frustration, but this motivation is clearly not yielding any results,†said Mr Dube.
He said this pass rate should send alarm bells to all interested stakeholders and push them to the round table where they could try to find the underlying cause of the issue.
“This issue clearly has to be addressed from the base. it is clear that something is not right therefore we have to address it as a matter of urgency. We really cannot keep on boasting that we have the best education standards when we have such a pass rate,†said Mr Dube.
Zanu-PF secretary for education in the politburo Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said the major problem was that there was no monitoring and evaluation system in place for students and teachers during their development right through the learning process.
“There are many variables that could have contributed to this low pass rate, what should be considered is that this is a process and there is need to continue monitoring it so that wherever there is a loophole we duly strengthen it.
“The Education Ministry must ensure that these teachers perform above average, even these textbooks that were donated by Unicef are of no significance if the teachers cannot utilise them to teach the students,†said Dr Ndlovu.
He said there was also a need for teachers to be continually trained so that they are equipped with the requisite skills to teach the students rather than the current situation where they relied on their college certificates.
“Yes the results are poor but there is now a need for us to address this problem within our teachers. They need retraining and constant monitoring, we also have an unfortunate case where in rural areas there is an influx of unqualified teachers. How do you expect the results to be normal when the situation on the ground is not normal?†said Dr Ndlovu.
Independent analyst and National University of Science and Technology lecturer, Dr Lawton Hikwa, said it was essential for all relevant stakeholders to work together if they were sincere towards the effective revival of the nation’s education sector.
“This is not about government or the teachers, everyone must have a role to play in this regards — teachers, government, the parents and even the students themselves.
“The onus is one everyone to see to it that the sector is effectively revived and that the sector once again becomes the most recognised in the whole of Africa. The teaching fraternity also deserves to be given the necessary incentives for them to be in a position to perform effectively,†said Dr Hikwa.
Therefore, as the nation ponders on what the negative slide of the results entails it now becomes everyone’s challenge to work together in ensuring that the education sector is not on a downward trend but there is a shift towards full-scale development.
What the nation now needs to do is to find out the root cause of the problem because the truth is whenever there is a problem the key is to solve the problem as a matter of urgency.
So as renowned poet William Yeats once put it: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire,†there is a need for all stakeholders, chief being the teachers and government, to take the country’s education sector more seriously so these rather disappointing pass rates are significantly improved.
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