The Herald

By Felix Share

31 October 2012

PARENTS stormed an examination room at St Peters Kubatana High School in Highfield yesterday protesting against the barring of their children from writing exams over non-payment of tuition fees. They reportedly bulldozed their way into the school’s Great Hall where an O-Level Shona Paper 1 final exam was being written.

The parents allegedly manhandled the deputy headmaster Mr Simbarashe Mavetera who had barred the pupils from writing the paper. Harare provincial education director Mr Calvin Mazula confirmed the incident. He said he had ordered an investigation into the issue. “It is true that there were some disturbances involving parents and school authorities, but I am yet to get a full report from the district education officer who went on the ground.” Mr Mazula said it appeared that one of the parents was not happy with a payment plan she was offered. He said she then approached the examination hall while shouting. “It appears the issue was overdramatised,” he said.

“Schools must not send away pupils because the contract for writing examinations is between Zimsec and the pupil.”

Teachers at St Peters’ Kubatana said the parents left the school only after Mr Mavetera gave them assurances that he would no longer turn away the pupils. They waited until the pupils were readmitted into the exam room before leaving. Pupils owe the Roman Catholic school between US$250 and US$300 each. Teachers said Mr Mavetera started turning away defaulting pupils on Monday when they were writing English Paper 1.

The affected pupils were only admitted into the exam room on Monday after about 30 minutes and this prompted them to bring their parents to school yesterday. “As usual, the deputy (head) chased away the pupils, unfortunately for him some of the defaulting pupils had brought their parents after what had happened on Monday,” said a teacher who declined to be named. “Some pupils rushed back home and brought their parents. The parents entered the Great Hall where the examination was being written and addressed the candidates, clearly outlining the Government policy that no one should be turned away for non-payment of school fees.” The teacher said the parents approached Mr Mavetera demanding an explanation on the turning away of their children. “Mr Mavetera did not respond politely and this angered the parents who harassed him and took off his tie. The situation only calmed after he agreed to re-admit the pupils,” he said.

Another teacher said the chaos disrupted the examination. “The parents entered the examination room when the examination was about to start. This was unfair to other pupils who paid their school fees,” he said. Interviewed parents said they were aware of Government policy and would not allow their children to be sent away over failure to pay school fees. Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said school authorities should not turn away pupils over non-payment of tuition fees.

He said the schools could only withhold the examination results until the pupils cleared the arrears. “The Government policy is that no child eligible to write the examinations should be sent away. Any headmaster doing this will be in breach of the policy and will face disciplinary action,” said Minister Coltart. He said parents should engage district education officers instead of confronting school authorities. “I don’t support parents and guardians who disrupt exams for other innocent pupils,” said Minister Coltart. “If they do not find any joy at the district level they should approach provincial offices and subsequently the permanent secretary’s office.”  There are several reports of schools barring pupils from writing public examinations because of outstanding levies and fees.

SW Radio Africa

By Tererai Karimakwenda

31 October 2012

A cabinet minister, who has witnessed the deliberate burning of bush and trees by illegal gold panners, has warned of the severe damage being done to the environment and urged government to urgently introduce policies that create jobs and protect the environment.

Education Minister David Coltart told SW Radio Africa that he has seen hundreds of thousands of hectares of bush burned over the last three months, as he drives from Bulawayo to his office and cabinet meetings in Harare. The fires he saw were lit close to the road near Shangani.

The Minister stopped and spoke to some of the illegal panners on one occasion, and they told him that they were deliberately lighting fires to get rid of bush, grass and trees that get in the way of their metal detectors. They said a mini gold rush hit the area recently after deposits of alluvial gold were discovered.

The panners are being allowed to do this with impunity by local ZANU PF leaders, under the guise of indigenisation. But Coltart warned that the fires and panning in rivers are destroying river systems and turning the country into a desert.

“I find it ironic that the very same people allowing this rampant abuse of the environment by allowing gold panners to operate without interference from police, are the ones responsible for deterring efforts to create good jobs for the people,” Coltart said.

The warning comes amid reports that illegal gold panners are currently being allowed to operate without any interference from the police, when in the past they have been arrested and jailed for at least five years. But it has been reported that ZANU PF is allowing illegal panning as an election campaign tactic, in order to get votes.

“It is critical that everyone understand the issues. And the issue of environment is not being debated adequately. We need serious policies that are not in the interest of just one political party but the interests of all Zimbabwean people and the country,” Coltart said.

He warned that unless the illegal panning stops, the country could be transformed into a wasteland and desert.

The Chronicle

By Pamela Shumba

30 October 2012

AN Accounts and Mathematics teacher from Bulawayo allegedly wrote an examination on behalf of a candidate who had promised to pay him $40.

The teacher Edward Moyo (40) and the candidate Phephile Dlamini (29) from Entumbane have since been arrested.

Moyo and Dlamini were allegedly caught cheating at Methodist College in Makokoba during the English Paper 1 examination on Monday morning.

Pupils who spoke to Chronicle expressed disappointment in the laxity of rules at the college and appealed for Government intervention.

“It is painful to know that some people are cheating during examinations when some of us spend sleepless nights trying to shape an honest future for ourselves,” said an infuriated pupil.

“We hope that justice will prevail to the two. The Government should also do something to avoid such incidents because this is jeopardising our education system,” said a Form Four pupil who spoke on condition of anonymity. When Chronicle visited the college yesterday afternoon, pupils and vendors around the school were talking about the incident. The pupils said the development could be a sign that more cheating was being done with “difficult” papers such as Mathematics and Science. A vendor who also spoke on condition of anonymity said the teacher was picked up by police from Mzilikazi Police Station.

“We heard that a teacher was caught cheating during the English examination and we later heard that he had been arrested and taken to Mzilikazi Police Station.

“The pupils at the college were devastated by the incident and continued to condemn the institution for not protecting the examination papers from corrupt education officials,” said the vendor.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo confirmed the arrest of Dlamini and Moyo and said investigations were underway.

“We are investigating a case where a 40-year-old teacher was caught writing an examination for an O-level candidate. The two are detained at Mzilikazi Police Station,” he said.

This year’s examinations have been riddled with controversy as two weeks ago, the acting headmaster at Sijawugwe Secondary School in Siganda, Bubi District, Mr Panganai Zimunhu, allegedly lost 13 examination papers.

Zimsec had to reset them.

Last year, the examination body threatened to deregister examination centres that were implicated in examination leaks.

Zimsec was concerned that such tendencies made it lose its credibility, hence the organisation had to move to maintain standards, a pure reputation and the credibility that it had worked hard to build over the years.

In a related matter, our Harare Bureau reports that parents stormed an examination room at St Peters Kubatana High School in Highfield yesterday protesting against the barring of their children from writing exams over non-payment of tuition fees.

They reportedly bulldozed their way into the school’s Great Hall where an ‘O’ Level Shona Paper 1 final examination was being written.

The parents allegedly manhandled the deputy headmaster Mr Simbarashe Mavetera who had barred the pupils from writing the paper.

Harare provincial education director Mr Calvin Mazula confirmed the incident.

He said he had ordered an investigation into the issue.

“It is true that there were some disturbances involving parents and school authorities, but I am yet to get a full report from the district education officer who went on the ground,” he said.

Mr Mazula said it appeared that one of the parents was not happy with a payment plan that she was offered by the school.

He said she then approached the examination hall while shouting.

“It appears the issue was overdramatised,” he said.

“Schools must not send away pupils because the contract for writing examinations is between Zimsec and the pupil.”

Teachers at St Peters Kubatana said the parents left the school only after Mr Mavetera gave them assurances that he would no longer turn away the pupils.

They waited until the pupils were readmitted into the examination room before leaving.

The pupils owe the Roman Catholic-run school between $250 and $300 each.

The teachers said Mr Mavetera started turning away defaulting pupils on Monday when they were writing the English Paper 1.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said school authorities should not turn away pupils over non-payment of tuition fees.

He said the schools could only withhold the examination results until the pupils cleared the arrears.

“The Government policy is that no child eligible to write the examinations should be sent away. Any headmaster doing this will be in breach of the policy and will face disciplinary action,” said Minister Coltart.

He said parents should engage district education officers instead of confronting school authorities.

“I don’t support parents and guardians who disrupt exams for other innocent pupils,” said Minister Coltart.

“If they do not find any joy at the district level they should approach provincial offices and subsequently the permanent secretary’s office.”

There are several reports of schools barring pupils from writing public examinations because of outstanding levies and fees.

News Day

29 October 2012

TWO Cabinet ministers from the Matabeleland region have pledged to lobby their colleagues in government to allocate funds for renovating the Bulawayo National Museum in the next National Budget.

The campaign was being spearheaded by Education minister David Coltart and Public Works minister Joel Gabuza.

Both ministers reportedly toured the facility in the company of engineers last week following reports that its roof was almost collapsing.

“The Minister of Public Works and I were in a meeting at the museum so we could assess the impact of damage to the building.
“They are now going to get a report so we could present it to Parliament.

“The minister (Gabuza) will use the report to make an effort to include the issue in the Budget,” Coltart said.

The final session of Parliament opens tomorrow and is set to be dominated by the 2013 National Budget which Finance minister Tendai Biti is expected to present next month.

The Bulawayo National Museum was officially opened in 1964 and contains valuable historical exhibits illustrating Zimbabwean history, including the second largest mounted elephant in the world.

All the exhibits were reportedly in danger of water damage as the roof needed $50 000 worth of repairs.

The Zimbabwean

By Gladys Ncube

29 October 2012

Heavily armed police on Saturday morning raided the home of Simon Spooner, the former united MDC security adviser and past campaign manager for Education Minister, David Coltart.

According Spooner’s lawyer, Lizwe Jamela, police said there were looking for weapons of war and had both arrest and search warrants, when they raided his home in Four Winds suburb.

“They searched the whole house but did not find anything. Luckily he (Spooner) is out of town, but they promised to come back,” said Jamela.

Spooner once spent over a month in solitary confinement at Khami Maximum Prison after being arrested and accused of being involved in the disappearance of Bulawayo war veteran, Cain Nkala.

He was arrested together with former united MDC MP Fletcher Dulini–Ncube and other party activists. Charges against Spooner were later dropped due to lack of evidence.

Bulawayo police spokesperson, Mandlenkosi Moyo, when contacted on Sunday, said he was still to be briefed about the raid.

The Standard

 by Nqaba Matshazi

28 October 2012

THE government is set host an education all-stakeholders’ conference in December to review the school curriculum to put emphasis on vocational skills training.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart last week said while Zimbabwe had a good education system, the curriculum was too academically-oriented.

He said greater focus should be placed on vocational skills. “The country’s curriculum was last reviewed in 1986 and we need to update it to include ICT (information and communication technologies) and the environment, among others,” he said.

Expected to attend the conference are leaders from industry, agriculture, mining and commerce, as the government seeks to develop a “broad-based” curriculum to prepare students for life after school. Previous attempts to develop a new curriculum had been abortive, with the Nziramasanga Commission on Education recommendations of 1999 yet to be adopted.

The commission said academic education on its own was not entirely beneficial and there was need to input vocational training into the schools’ curriculum.

Coltart said he would recommend to Cabinet, that provisions of the Nziramasanga Commission be adopted, so that Zimbabwe’s education system could benefit learners more.

Zimbabwe has the highest literacy rate in Africa, while the quality of education is third behind Kenya and Gambia on the continent, according to the World Economic Forum report of 2012.

However, in the provision of internet and ICTs in schools, Zimbabwe performs poorly, as it is ranked 129 out of 142 countries. It also polls woefully in the provision of training and research, as it is ranked 105.

As if to illustrate the new direction education was taking, Cabinet recently approved a memorandum of understanding between the Education ministry and Foundations for Farming, which would see conservation agriculture becoming an integral part of the school curriculum.

A number of rural schools have been selected for the pilot programme for the conservation agriculture initiative, with the scheme later expected to spread throughout the country.

Coltart was optimistic of the agreement signed with Foundations for Farming, saying it had the capacity to revolutionise agriculture in Zimbabwe.

The Chronicle

28 October 2012

Ordinary Level examinations are starting today, with examination papers having been dispatched to all centres countrywide.
The examination papers include the ones that were withdrawn and reset by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) after the acting headmaster of Sijawugwe Secondary School, Mr Panganai Zimunhu (31), allegedly lost them two weeks ago.

The school is located in the Siganda area of Bubi District in Matabeleland North Province.

There was a momentary panic when the incident was first reported, as candidates feared that the O-Level examinations would be postponed. In an interview yesterday, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart confirmed that everything was in place and the timetable for the examinations remains unchanged.

“The ministry is ready for the examinations, as all the examination papers have been sent to the examination centres countrywide,” he said.

“I would like to assure the writing candidates, parents and stakeholders that everything is in place and the examinations will be written according to the timetable.”

He said his ministry would continue to work closely with Zimsec in making sure that there was transparency during the examinations.

“What happened to the examination papers was a mistake which the ministry regrets, but I am glad that the developments did not affect the examination timetable although it was an expense to the Government.

“We have not had any other problems so far and we will continue to work hand in hand with Zimsec in making sure that there is transparency and due care when transporting examination papers and during the examinations,” said Minister Coltart.

Mr Zimunhu was last week taken to Western Commonage magistrates’ court but was not placed on remand as the State felt there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

He was told to go home and the State would proceed by way of summons once they have enough facts.

The deputy provincial education director for Matabeleland North, Mr Matthias Luphahla, last week said the ministry had started disciplinary proceedings against Mr Zimunhu.

The papers that went missing were English Language (Paper 1 and 2), Mathematics non-calculator version (Paper 1 and 2), Geography (Paper 1 and 2), Integrated Science (Paper 1, 2 and 3) and Ndebele (Paper 1 and 2).

It cost Zimsec $996 000 to print examination question papers for the 286 343 candidates who registered for the O-Level examinations this year.

To replace the missing question papers for the six subjects, Zimsec forked out about $850 000

The Chronicle

By Steven Mpofu

27 October 2012

Food and water shortages in rural areas due to drought and job losses for large numbers of workers in urban areas as a result of company shutdowns caused by economic challenges continue to grab headlines both in the print and the electronic media in Zimbabwe these days.

That is so because these are bread and butter issues. For an empty belly is a tyrant and whenever it gets angry people start to run around even if solutions resemble an ever receding mirage.

However, a sudden downpour from the skies and inflows of much needed capital to turn the wheels of industry are wont to change these situations for the better for those affected.

That in the immediate past Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Senator David Coltart dropped a bombshell that might not have shaken some people but whose repercussions could turn back the clock many years in Zimbabwe’s social, economic and political development. The Minister, whose other portfolios include Sports, Arts and Culture, disclosed that 50 percent of girls completing primary school cannot proceed with education and so drop out for lack of money or because of parental preference for the education of the boy child.

But boys were also dropping off the educational train way before their intended destination, Minister Coltart said of the drop out rate for girls particularly in rural areas: “This is a worrying figure and we have to try by all means to effectively reduce it”.

The Minister is deadly right and instead of enjoying blissful nights as if everything is rosy on the educational front, all other Zimbabwean stakeholders should ponder on the whats and hows of helping the Government improve the lot of the girl child.
The phenomenal expansion of primary, secondary and university education upon which the

Zanu-PF Government embarked soon after independence in 1980 had brought a glimmer of hope for a bright, bolder new future for the girl child. The drop out rate for girls is, indeed, worrying as it sadly points to a Zimbabwe gravitating back to medieval times where the old traditional society tied up the girl child to the kitchen while sending the boy child to school was viewed as an investment in the security of parents in their old age, while it was believed that an educated girl child would “enrich her husband’s family.” Yet were a countrywide survey to be conducted in Zimbabwe today to discover who between an educated married man and an educated woman supported their biological parents, better than the other, some parents impressed by the performance of women, might probably wish that their sons underwent sex change.

Education is the cutting edge for women’s liberation from the kitchen. The outworkings are tremendous, like the outworking of the liberation struggle that brought independence to this country — a value which has made some people so drunk with freedom that the judge-and-jury in their hearts, their conscience, has gone to sleep.

As a result, the persons in point, especially men in politics, have by consent, been turned into straws by means of which imperialism is intent on sucking out the freedom Zimbabweans enjoy along with their rich natural resources and our sovereignty.

But if you (yes you) think that the extravagant claim made by this pen about the transformative power of education is empty, you need only look at (need only look) the signature presence registered by Zimbabwean women in the noble profession of journalism, in academia, the diplomatic service and in the legislature among other plum jobs, with the crowning occupation of the second highest office in the land by Cde Joice Mujuru.

Incidentally, Cde Joice Mujuru, as freedom fighter Teurai Ropa, Oppah Muchinguri and their like-minded peers decided on their own volition fired by an irresistible quest for independence and freedom to break with a gender-biased past. They abandoned their education or whatever confined them to the kitchen and joined the boy child in the bush to wage war on the racist, white minority regime of Ian Smith, culminating with the uhuru enjoyed today even by those who slept through the revolution of the liberated people of this country. These determined young women had to forsake whatever they were doing to take part in the armed struggle with some losing their lives in the process so that no girl in a free Zimbabwe should ever drop out of school again.

The report that the girl child is again forced out of school by crushing poverty in the rural areas and by parents preferring to educate the boy child instead is certainly a tragic irony, that calls for what journalists might describe as reversing the reversed bromide of primitive treatment of the girl child by the defunct traditional society.

If truth be told, there is no way Zimbabwe can hope to transcend its status as an underdeveloped country with men alone at the wheel while women are in the shed. Such a scenario is at best wishful thinking and at worst akin to one legged man embarking on a journey of economic and social emancipation. It boggles the mind to think how long and how far a person with one leg can hop, hop, hop to reach the desired milestone. It is, however, not too late to reverse that sorry drop out trend for the girl child and the Government has to be commended for introducing the campaign for female education programme under which $19 million will be initially be spent on 2 400 disadvantaged secondary school girls.

Minister Coltart said more money was needed to benefit more disadvantage people. Here is a call, therefore, for all other stakeholders financially to rally to the support of the education ministry by throwing a lifeline to the girl child out there in the country whose future now looks bleak.

Boys who find themselves abandoning school at an early age stand a better chance of navigating their future on account of an inbuilt hunting instinct in them while the girls who find themselves in the cold are wont to get married at a young age so that these babies will give birth to babies or might be compelled by circumstances to become anti-social by joining the world’s oldest profession.

What vision the business fraternity and non governmental organisations have for the future of this country and for their own successes will be demonstrated by their responses to the need by the Ministry of Education for more money with which to lay a strong foundation for braver new future for the girl child.

In particular, women in the forefront of the gender-equality campaign should be seen to be torch bearers not only by the lip; they should fundraise to add to the money needed for educating the girl child.

Sunday News

By Stanford Chiwanga

27 October 2012

ZIMBABWE has one of the highest rates of orphan-hood in the world, with 25 percent of all children having lost one or both parents mainly due to HIV and Aids, a survey by the Government, Unicef and other partners has revealed.

More than one million young people, most of them orphans, are out of school and left with few educational and employment options. Children with parents were found to be three times more likely to attend secondary school than children from poor and orphaned families.

The absence of a breadwinner means that there is a growing disparity in education. Financial barriers are constraining access to education for orphans and vulnerable children. In this environment, orphaned children, children with disabilities and others with special needs, are at increasing risk of exclusion from school.

The vulnerability of orphans especially girls left them at risk of being sexually abused. At least 21 percent of girls’ first sexual encounters are forced and orphans were found to make up most of the victims of this sexual abuse. To date, 10 000 children victims of abuse have been assisted through the victim friendly system. A large percent of the children were orphans.

The victim friendly system is the child-sensitive justice system that includes specialised police units, courts and care and support services.

The Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Paurine Mpariwa refused to comment for reasons best known to her.

A Unicef official said the high rate of orphanhood in Zimbabwe was a cause of concern but can be reduced through behavioural change and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. “Behavioural change is a must for children to grow up with their parents, as it stands most cases of HIV infection in Zimbabwe are of sexual intercourse, a sign that HIV was contracted through adultery and fornication. Also if mothers get tested and get on a treatment regime they get to live longer and that also prevents mother-to-child transmission, meaning babies are born without HIV. But for those parents who are positive, they can also avoid turning their children into orphans by taking ARVs. They prolong lives and parents can live to see their children grow into adults, said the official.

The effective response of Government and Unicef and its partners has led to major increases in assistance rendered to orphans. Five hundred thousand orphans and vulnerable children are provided with free-basic social services and an additional 500 000 are having their school fees paid for through the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam).

By 2015, in line with the millennium development goals (MDGs), the Government and Unicef through the Education Transition Fund, aim to have returned at least 100 000 school-aged boys and girls to mainstream education through a “second chance” education programme. The target is also to ensure that 25 percent of orphans and vulnerable children, including those with special needs, access basic education. At least 200 000 young women and men will be provided with alternative learning opportunities that include HIV and Aids life skills training.

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said a political will was necessary in order to ensure that all orphans and vulnerable children access education and benefit from Government-led intervention programmes.

“For us to reach out to all orphans and vulnerable children who are out of school because they do not have money we require a collective effort. The international community can assist us by increasing the amount of money it gives us but the primary responsibility lies with us, the Government of Zimbabwe. We need to increase the amount of money allocated to education and Beam. Tough political decisions need to be made and they entail reducing the amount of money given to other ministries in order to increase the money for education,” said Minister Coltart.

According to Minister Coltart, about one million out of an estimated 3,6 million school-going children require Beam support as their parents and guardians cannot afford paying school fees. Approximately 27 percent of these children were either orphans or vulnerable children.

Currently, 976 000 primary and secondary school students are in need of Beam assistance but 380 000 are not receiving any support.

Fifty-five thousand girls and boys from labour-constrained and food-poor child-headed-families will be guaranteed long-term cash transfers from a Government-led national social protection system.

News Day

By Philip Chidavenzi

23 October 2012

EDUCATION minister David Coltart has disclosed that about one million out of an estimated 3,6 million school-going children required Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) support as their parents and guardians cannot afford paying school fees.

Speaking at the launch of the Beam Evaluation Report in Harare last week, Coltart said the evaluation revealed that approximately 27% of these children were either orphans or vulnerable children.

“From this, one can conclude that we have a very grave situation on our hands,” Coltart said.

“Given an approximate 3% enrolment increase, an estimated $53 million is required to cover the full annual Beam requirement in 2013. This will not cover the out-of-school children, the number of which are still not known, but could be as high as another one million children.”

“Those children identified in the Beam and Zela (Zimbabwe Early Learning Assessment) report are registered and in school. The number of out-of-school children not included in these assessments is not known,” Coltart said.

The evaluation indicated that 784 000 (28%) of primary school pupils are in need of support, but only 456 400 (16,3%) had accessed it. The evaluation noted that Tsholotsho, Bubi and Gwanda districts had the highest number of school dropouts.

Coltart said for secondary schools, 192 000 (24%) of 800 000 students required Beam support but only 140 000 (17,5%) received it.

Of the 976 000 primary and secondary school students identified as needing Beam support, 380 000 were not receiving anything.

He added that a comprehensive “out of school” assessment would be conducted in partnership with Zimstats early next year.

The minister said according to statistics from the report, there were gaps and weaknesses in the programme, indicating the need for refinement of the selection process.

“The Beam evaluation was long overdue. Gaps and weaknesses identified should form the basis for continuous training of heads of schools and the community selection committees (CSC) in the Beam processes and procedures,” he said.

Beam was launched in 2001 in response to the rising challenges associated with the macro-economic meltdown which undermined social services provision to assist people who could not afford school fees.