Sunday Times (South Africa)

12 September 2010

The unity government, the international donor community and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) this week launched a massive nationwide programme to get education back on track in Zimbabwe.

Once commended worldwide for its education policy, Zimbabwe’s education sector all but collapsed as President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF’s economic policies brought the country to ruin.

The first steps towards righting those wrongs began early this week with the distribution of stationery and textbooks covering all core subjects to 5575 primary schools across the country.

The programme is being funded by the Educational Transition Fund (ETF). The ETF – a multi-donor funding mechanism – was launched a year ago and is designed to mobilise resources for the education sector.

In recent times, up to 10 pupils have been forced to share one textbook, while 20% of primary schools in the country have no English, mathematics or indigenous language textbooks.

“Because of this visionary partnership, Zimbabwean children will go back to school with books and learning materials for the first time in years,” said David Coltart, the minister of education, sport, arts and culture.

“It is a profound recognition that education is the foundation of Zimbabwe’s recovery,” Coltart said.

Over the past decade and against great odds, local communities managed to keep their children in school and maintained a high national enrolment despite a declining economy, rising unemployment, an orphans crisis and an under-resourced education sector that was near collapse.

Twenty percent of the textbooks are being printed in Zimbabwe and the remainder in the region.

Sunday Mail

12 September 2010

Sunday Mail Reporter

THE Government identified education as a high priority area for 2011 and has adopted a strategic plan to improve the welfare of teachers and to ensure that marginalised children have access to education.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart last week confirmed that Cabinet had approved a short-term plan on the revival of the education system.
“Cabinet unanimously agreed that the revival of the education sector is a top priority and that more resources should be channelled into the sector,” said Sen Coltart.
“The strategic plan was welcomed by all the parties in Cabinet and at the moment we are working on a budget that will see this short-term plan kick off.”
Sen Coltart said while the Government would primarily fund the strategic plan, the ministry would also seek donor funding. He said the strategic plan had key objectives that would see the welfare of teachers and school children enhanced. “Our main objective is to see our teachers’ welfare being improved. There is also need to provide adequate learning materials,” said Sen Coltart.
The plan would also focus on assisting marginalised children, especially in rural areas, to have access to education and learning materials.
The sector has faced serious challenges over the past 10 years.
Last week, the Government and the international donor community unveiled a 13-million textbook facility worth US$52 million that will see each pupil in 5 575 primary schools countrywide receiving a set of four basic textbooks.
The current pupil-to-textbook ratio stands at 1:10 while 20 percent of primary schools in rural areas have no textbooks at all. Through the facility, each child will receive Mathematics, English, Environmental Science and either Shona or Ndebele textbooks.
The identified schools will receive stationery and steel cabinets.
The Education Transition Fund, a Government and donor partnership, was initiated a year ago with the aim of mobilising resources for the sector.

Herald

10 September 2010

By Tsungirirai Dhambuza

Government still requires the services of the 25 000 temporary teachers whose contracts it had reportedly terminated but will not employ any more temporary teachers.

The State yesterday directed that the 25 000 temporary teachers should return to work with immediate effect as the country was facing a critical shortage of qualified educators.

In an interview yesterday, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said Cabinet agreed that temporary teachers be retained. “My message to temporary teachers is that they should report for duty immediately and Government’s intention is to renew their contracts. We discussed the issue in Cabinet and it was agreed that these temporary teachers will be retained,” he said.

It was reported on Wednesday that district and provincial education directors countrywide informed temporary teachers to wait until the Public Service Commission clarified their status as Treasury had issued a directive to terminate their service since it had no money.

However, Minister Coltart clarified yesterday that Government only froze recruitment of more temporary teachers, adding that those with running contracts would remain in the employ of the civil service.

“Government resolved that we could not afford to allow the civil servants to expand because we do not have money to pay them. Treasury did not want an increase of teachers and we are preventing the increase,” he said.

Minister Coltart said the reports of termination of temporary teachers’ contracts came as a surprise as their service was urgently needed with the November public examinations nearing.

“I wasn’t aware that this will happen. It was a shocking development and I thought the third term was going to start smoothly as we are ready for examinations and that’s why we have dealt with the crisis quickly. We cannot afford these candidates to fail,” Minister Coltart said.

Temporary teachers constitute about 30 percent of schoolteachers countrywide and firing them would have worsened the situation as qualified educators disillusioned by Government’s failure to raise salaries are reportedly joining private schools and other sectors of the economy while a good number found jobs in Sadc countries at the height of the economic difficulties.

The situation is deplorable in rural areas where some schools are entirely run by temporary teachers.

Zimbabwe needs about 120 000 teachers for schools to operate at full capacity and the decision to terminate contracts for 25 000 teachers would have paralysed teaching in rural areas.

Minister Coltart said progress on the ministry’s strategic plan document had been made, adding it sought to address five key areas.

*restoration of the professional status of teachers

*reestablishment of conducive learning conditions

*improving the quality of education

* reinvigorating school systems and governance

*focusing on resource mobilisation for those schools and children with greatest need

The Guardian

By Matt Scott

10 September 2010

• Foreign Office warns visit would ‘send out wrong signals’
• Setback to Zimbabwe’s hopes of returning to Test arena

Zimbabwe’s hopes for a return to the international fold have suffered a setback after the cricket establishment followed government advice not to travel there. Marylebone Cricket Club will not even enter the country to conduct a fact-finding mission after receiving advice from the Foreign Office over the “inappropriate” message it would send. A planned tour of Zimbabwe by one of MCC‘s representative teams is now out of the question until the advice changes.

“There has been insufficient progress in the fundamental issues of political reform to justify sports tours to Zimbabwe by British teams, including county sides,” said the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, in a letter to governing bodies through their umbrella organisation, the Sport and Recreation Alliance. “The positive signal such tours would send would not be appropriate.”

The government is particularly concerned about the involvement of Peter Chingoka as the head of Zimbabwe Cricket. He has appeared on an international sanctions list and is seen as too close an associate of the discredited president Robert Mugabe to justify the approval of tours to the country. MCC’s decision follows Cricket Scotland’s cancellation of an Intercontinental Cup fixture there next month and is a blow to Zimbabwean ambitions of returning to Test cricket.

The Lord’s fact-finding mission had been due to take place following a request from Andy Flower, the England coach and former Zimbabwe Test player, to explore the reopening of formal links. New Zealand are believed to be due to send their ‘A’ team there in October, with Australia hosting a Zimbabwe ‘A’ side next year. This followed South Africa’s decision to take the first step, when they warmed up for England’s visit last year by hosting their neighbouring state in two one-day internationals.

Earlier this year MCC’s head of cricket, John Stephenson, met with David Coltart, Zimbabwe’s minister of sport and culture, and Andy Whittall, the former Zimbabwe Test bowler and MCC member. Discussions centred on sending an MCC representative team to Zimbabwe and to conduct further investigations while there.

“We were advised by the government not to go at the present time,” said a spokesman for MCC. “We are monitoring the situation as closely as possible in Zimbabwean cricket. As soon as the advice changes we’ll act on it very quickly.”

Zimbabwe’s tour to England last year was cancelled in June 2008 at the request of the then prime minister, Gordon Brown. Since then the progressive Morgan Tsvangirai has become Zimbabwe’s prime minister and cricketing figures such as Alan Butcher, the father of the former England opener Mark Butcher, have begun to take up senior coaching posts in the country.

Those developments seemed to point to Zimbabwe’s return from pariah status. But with political upheaval in Zimbabwe continuing, the Foreign Office believes sports tours would confer unjustified legitimacy on Mugabe’s regime.

Timeline

February 2003
England and Wales Cricket Board pulls England out of World Cup game in Zimbabwe because of fears over the players’ safety.

June 2004
International Cricket Council suspends Zimbabwe’s Test status for the rest of the year

January 2006
Zimbabwe cricket board bans the team’s Test status for the remainder of the year, but announces the side will still play one-day matches.

May 2007
Australian Prime Minister John Howard orders Australia to pull out of a scheduled September tour of Zimbabwe.

June 2008
ECB cancels Zimbawe’s tour of England because of continued political unrest.

July 2008
Zimbabwe pull out of 2009 World T20 tournament in England.

July 2008
ICC meets in Dubai to decide whether to ban Zimbabwe but does suspend them.

October 2009
South Africa host Zimbabwe for two one-day internationals.

June 2010
Australia A appear set to host a Zimbabwe A team next year.

July 2010
Following a plea by Andy Flower, the England coach, the MCC will send a ‘fact-finding’ team to Zimbabwe with the view of re-opening cricketing links.

July 2010
The exiled fast bowler Henry Olonga speaks out: “I think what Zimbabwe needs now is a slow and steady reintroduction to Test cricket.”

September 2010
New Zealand A appear set to tour Zimbabwe next month. The Kiwis postponed a tour to the Zimbabwe last year and again this year amid concerns of health and security.

NewZimbabwe.com

9 September 2010

ZIMBABWE began a major distribution of textbooks and other learning materials as schools opened this week – the result of a partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund.

All the country’s 5,575 primary schools will receive textbooks for core subjects, bringing the pupil-textbook ratio to 1:1, down from the current one textbook per 10 pupils, UNICEF said in a statement.

Recent statistics from the Education Ministry showed 20 percent of primary schools had no textbooks at all for English, Mathematics and local languages.

Education Minister David Coltart said Thursday: “This week children went back to school because of this visionary partnership between the inclusive government, international donor community and the UN.

“Children will go back to school with books and learning materials for the first time in years. It is a profound recognition that education is the foundation of Zimbabwe’s recovery.”

In the next three months, the Ministry hopes to disburse 12,000 tons of school supplies, including stationery and 13 million textbooks.

Some 20 percent of the textbooks are being printed in Zimbabwe and the remainder in other countries in Southern Africa. A supply chain will ensure that textbooks, stationery and other school supplies from the UNICEF distribution centre are distributed to 22 hubs across the country and further transported to every school, officials said.

“The distribution exercise we launch today is undoubtedly an enormous endeavour. Yet, we relish the challenge as it is a crucial first step to restoring Zimbabwe’s education system to its former glory as well as restoring the pride Zimbabweans have in educating their children,” said Peter Salama, UNICEF’s Representative in Zimbabwe.

The second phase of the US$70 million programme — the first large-scale, external support to the education sector in the past decade — will target secondary schools as well as focusing on providing teacher guides and textbooks for marginalised indigenous languages approved by the Education Ministry, as well as Braille texts for the visually impaired.

Zimonline

By Sebastian Nyamhangambiri

9 September 2010

HARARE – A donor-sponsored programme to provide books and stationery to Zimbabwe’s schools will see the number of children sharing a textbook dropping from 10 to one, officials said on Wednesday.

The programme that saw 13 million textbooks and other learning materials worth US$52 million bought for distribution to Zimbabwean schools is backed by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the European Commission and other international donors.

Speaking at a ceremony yesterday to handover 13 million books bought under the education support programme, UNICEF head in Zimbabwe Peter Salama said the country’s education sector  — once the envy of many in Africa – remained in dire straights and in need of further help.

Salama said:  “We will be able to exceed the original target of bringing the textbook to pupil ratio down from one-to-10 to 1-to-2. Within a few weeks, every child in primary school will have a set of core textbooks. This may make Zimbabwe one of the only countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a 1-to-1 ratio of textbook to pupil.

“There are of course still major outstanding issues for which solutions must be found including the motivation and conditions of teachers as well as the need for the physical rehabilitation of schools.”

Speaking at the same occasion Education Minister David Coltart said Zimbabwe’s public school system continues to face problems including collapsed infrastructure, teacher shortages and children dropping out of school because of hunger and poverty.

Zimbabwe’s education sector that was once revered as one of the best in Africa is a shadow of its former self because of a severe economic crisis over the past decade that has seen government fail to pay market level salaries to teachers, maintain schools or provide learning materials such as chalks and books.

Teachers in Zimbabwe’s public schools earn an average US$236 monthly wage as the power-sharing government struggles to revive an economy battered by years of hyperinflation, lure back investors and pay its workers.

Many of Zimbabwe’s best trained teachers left the country a long time ago for foreign lands where salaries and living conditions are better.

The power-sharing government of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe has promised to restore basic services such as education and health.

But the administration is hamstrung by a shortage of funds because rich Western nations able to provide required grants and soft loans will not do so insisting Harare must first step up the pace of democratic reforms, do more to uphold human rights and the rule of law before they give support.

www.un.org

UN News Centre

8 September 2010

A major distribution of school supplies got under way today across Zimbabwe in an effort by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Government and international donors to ensure that every primary school student receives a textbook for all core subjects.

All 5,575 primary schools in Zimbabwe will receive the supplies thanks to support from the Educational Transition Fund (ETF), a multi-donor funding mechanism launched a year ago to mobilize resources for the education sector with a view to improving the quality of schooling for the country’s children, UNICEF said in a press release.

The fund responds to numerous shortages of teaching and learning materials, textbooks and supplies in schools. Currently, around 10 pupils share every text book, while 20 per cent of primary schools, have no textbooks at all for English, mathematics or local languages.

“This week children went back to school because of this visionary partnership between the Inclusive Government, international donor community and the UN. Children will go back to school with books and learning materials for the first time in years,” said David Coltart, the country’s Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture. “It is a profound recognition that education is the foundation of Zimbabwe’s recovery.”

Over the past decade, Zimbabwean communities managed to keep their children and maintained high national enrolment, despite a declining economy, rising unemployment, an orphan crisis and an under-resourced education sector, which was near collapse.

The ETF is the first large-scale, external support to the education sector in the past decade and will provide learning resources to every primary school.

The distribution will see a total of 12,000 tons of school supplies, including stationery and 13 million textbooks, distributed in the next three months.

Some 20 per cent of the textbooks are being printed in Zimbabwe and the remaining in other countries in Southern Africa. A supply chain will ensure that textbooks, stationery and other school supplies from the UNICEF distribution centre are distributed to 22 hubs across the country and further transported to every school.

“The distribution exercise we launch today is undoubtedly an enormous endeavour. Yet, we relish the challenge as it is a crucial first step to restoring Zimbabwe’s education system to its former glory as well as restoring the pride Zimbabweans have in educating their children,” said Peter Salama, UNICEF’s Representative in Zimbabwe.

The next phase of the ETF will focus on providing teacher guides and textbooks for marginalized indigenous languages approved by the education ministry, as well as Braille texts.