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Zimbabwe's educational legacy from the 1980s: was it all so rosy
Mary E. Ndlovu, Sokwanele
May 21, 2013

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February 2013 has come and gone, bringing with it yet another set of abysmal O level examination results and another round of national gnashing of teeth, finger-pointing and acrimonious name-calling. Some attempted to score cheap political points at the expense of rational debate, while the Minister was at pains to point out the difficulties faced by children trying to learn over the past chaotic few years. Indeed, the schools have suffered drastically through the decade of economic collapse and political violence, starved of funding, abandoned by teachers, who left children to fend for themselves without much opportunity for learning. The Minister was not wrong in pinpointing the problems of recent years. However, if we step back to take a longer view of the evolution of our education system, we will find that the present dysfunction originates much further back, and is in fact the logical outcome of policies introduced in the immediate post-independence years – those very policies which have been hailed as bringing Zimbabwe the “best education system in Africa”. It is time for us to revisit the developments of those years.

Much glowing rhetoric has been mouthed and printed lauding the miraculous achievements of Zimbabwean education in the post-independence period. But how much has been myth and how much hard fact? Public and private figures talk about restoring our education to “excellence”. Certainly there were excellent aspects and segments, but is it correct to characterise the system as excellent? In comparison to many other African nations, Zimbabwe could certainly boast of both quantity and quality, but is the low standard achieved by others the measuring stick we should be using, or should we be looking at what was done in comparison to what might have been done? Or at least should we not be telling the truth about what was done and the legacy it left?

Post-Independence expansion policy – democratisation means quantity

A major component of both liberation movements’ promises to the Zimbabwean people when independence was achieved in 1980 was to bring expansion and equality in the education system. Education was considered to be a necessary ingredient of economic development, but it would also fulfil the demands and aspirations of the general populace to have their children educated so that they could emerge from poverty into a more comfortable life with modern amenities. Thus everyone expected that the new government would address the racial disparities in educational provision and meet the people’s demands. Few, however, were really expecting the massive expansion which took place in the early 80’s, with the aim of fulfilling the election promise to provide both primary and secondary education to all children.

During the final war years, many schools had been closed, so enrolment numbers had declined from their peak in 1977[i]. But when the schools opened in January 1980 after the signing of the ceasefire, the numbers skyrocketed. The expansion which took place in the ensuing years has been the hallmark of Zimbabwean education, and it was a truly remarkable achievement. The figures tell the story.

During 1980, 1,310,315 children registered for school[ii]. Of these, the vast majority were in primary school – 1,235,994 – with only 74,321 being registered for secondary schools. The total was an increase of 424,514 or 47.9% over the previous year, and of 38.5% over the higher enrolments of 1977 before the war took such a toll. The huge 1980 increase took place primarily because the war had ended and schools which had been closed reopened. Parents rushed to enrol their children in school, now that they could move freely without fear, and the Grade 1 intake more than doubled from 1979 or any earlier year. Returning refugee children also swelled the school population.

But after independence in April of 1980, a much bigger expansion was introduced, to begin taking effect in 1981. The abolition of any primary school tuition fee from Term 3 in 1980 encouraged many to enrol their children the following January. In that next year, the Grade 1 intake increased again by 25%[iii] and the numbers in every grade from 2 to 7 were substantially higher than in 1980, indicating that most children had by this time returned to school, and many who had been unable to enter school during the war registered even though they were now overage. The total primary enrollment for 1981 was nearly half a million more than in 1980. By 1982 the number was over 1.9 million and by 1983, as the huge grade 1 intakes from 80-82 began to make their way through the system, the figure reached over 2 million, never to drop below this again. The essence of this growth was to move from a 70% participation rate of children in primary schools in 1976 to 97% in 1984[iv].

However remarkable that may have been, the far greater expansion took place in secondary schooling. Prior to independence, one of the major grievances of African Rhodesians had been that secondary schooling was harshly restricted by a selection process at grade 7. Thus, in 1976 when 70% of children were able to attend primary school, only 23% of Grade 7 pupils could proceed to secondary. The new government made an early decision and in mid-year announced that from January 1981 every child who finished Grade 7 could automatically proceed to Form 1, regardless of examination results. Places would be made available for all. From 22,201 in 1980 the Form 1 intake nearly quadrupled in 1981 to 83,491. With this policy being continued from year to year, by 1986 the secondary school population surged to over half a million. The combined school enrollments reached just over 3 million for the first time in 1991 – representing 28% of the total Zimbabwean population at the time.[v]

Of course the consequences of such an explosion in numbers were manifold and would have been debilitating for any school system. As the Permanent Secretary wrote in his report “1981 might be described as the year of shortages; shortages, that is of everything but children”[vi]. There were not enough buildings, not enough teachers, not enough teaching materials, not enough ministry staff to conduct supervision, and certainly not enough experienced administrators. Everything became make-do.

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