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The survivors: Students of Zimbabwe
Washington Katema, Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
November 06, 2007

It will be analytically complicated to divorce the myriad of problems engulfing the education sector from the general decay of the politico-economic infrastructure of Zimbabwe. The unthinkable economic conditions and dark sky of full-blown dictatorship prevailing in our country has immensely affected and heavily compromised the education system in Zimbabwe. Annual Inflation rate is currently pegged at over 7900% and is rising. The overt democratic deficit in the country has greatly affected the university governance systems and mechanisms. Tragically, most institutions of higher learning are now more of party-state political indoctrination chambers than epicentres of academic discourses. Furthermore, the funding of the education sector has been unrealistic and scandalous. Education is no longer an integral component of the overall national development plan. Key policy analysis concepts and tools such as quality assurance, research infrastructure, support of employability and supranational policies have been deliberately and consistently ignored in the education milieu of Zimbabwe.

Educational Infrastructure

The obtaining man- made politico-economic crisis has negatively affected the Educational Infrastructure in Zimbabwe. Both Medical Schools at the University of Zimbabwe and National University of Science and Technology (NUST) are facing an unimaginable plethora of challenges. The critical shortage of qualified lecturers, basic learning equipment, text books and infrastructure has rendered many sleepless nights to college authorities. As a result NUST is contemplating closing down its Medical School. This will negatively affect the Health delivery system in Zimbabwe as there is a symbiotic relation between the Medical Schools and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

The shortage of lecturers, books and infrastructure is not only confined to the medical schools but across the whole education sector in Zimbabwe. Harsh economic conditions and a turbulent political climate have catalysed brain drain in Zimbabwe. At least one third of Zimbabweans are now living outside the country and most of them are professionals. The final collapse of student support system on 10 February 2006 resulted in exorbitant fee increment, a factor which forced 31.5% of students to drop out of college. Student admission mechanism is now predicated on affordability rather than on meritocracy. Again, the prioritisation of state-sponsored Zanu PF-National Youth Service graduates as a selection criterion has tainted the education system in Zimbabwe.

The exiguous budgetary allocations on education have made campus life, not only unsustainable but apparently impossible, illegal and even immoral. We have seen the reincarnation of these unfortunate occurrences in the lower levels of our education system, exacerbated by the continued and uncontained power and water cuts . UNESCO's stipulation that 26% of the national budget must be allocated to education has been ignored. Perhaps, it is because most children of senior ranking government officials do not study in Zimbabwe, in but South Africa, Europe, Australia and in the United States.

There must be clear systems to ensure quality assurance in the education packages. There is also need for consistent and systematic quality auditing. The quality must be of the international standards. All Universities need to set up Quality Circles to ensure maintance of standards. Students must be represented in these vital committees. Further, they must adopt learning and teaching methods that are relevant to the modern times, that will produce a graduate, who has not only crammed volumes of literature from various disciplines but one who is dynamic and agreeable to the changing times and technological advancement.

Research Infrastructure

There is no concrete research quality framework on the panorama of the education sector in Zimbabwe. Lack of sound research infrastructure and funding have turned research institutes into white elephants. The Institute of Development Studies at the University of Zimbabwe is in the intensive care unit. There is no strategic innovativeness in many research-oriented departments such as the agriculture department, engineering departments and the school of medicine. The student-computer ratio is among the highest in the region. Further, almost two thirds of the colleges in Zimbabwe are operating without Internet facilities. In this information age one would expect more from the Zimbabwe education system. The government must come up with a systemic infrastructure initiative to provide funding to upgrade the systemic infrastructure of universities and colleges to meet the regional and international standards. Funding must be provided for innovative approaches to expand access to shared facilities such as libraries, information and communications technologies, specialised equipment, technical and administrative assistance.

University Governance

Intensified party-state interference in the day to day running of universities and colleges in Zimbabwe has largely eroded their autonomy. This resulted in the late Professor Walter Kamba resigning from being the Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe. The University Act reconfigured the centres of power in the running of universities in Zimbabwe. The university council which now runs the University is hand picked by Mr. Robert Mugabe, the chancellor of all state universities in Zimbabwe. High on their Key Performance Areas are student suspensions and expulsions. Corruption is rife and rampant in most colleges and Universities in Zimbabwe. Last year, the Vice Chancellor of the state-owned Chinhoyi University of Technology, Professor Charles Nherera was jailed for corruption charges. The Student Union Presidents who are supposed to provide the checks and balance in the University Council are suspended on the day they get into office. Since 2004, most of University of Zimbabwe Student Union Presidents have failed to complete their studies at the institution. The list is a follows, Sendisa Ndlovu, Hentchel Winterhold Mavuma, Tineyi Mukwewa and the current President Lovemore Chinoputsa and many others. There are not sustainable and enduring internal governance systems and standard internal management control mechanism in these institutions, the bedrock of all vibrant Universities globally. The continued militarization of institutions of higher learning must be condemned by all and sundry.

Academic Freedoms

The systemic and systematic victimisation has reached unprecedented proportions. Student suspensions, expulsions and arrests are now weekly events. The recent, unfortunate arrest and illegal detention of Edison Hlatswayo for almost a month was as shocking as it was total madness. The follow up arrests of Brenda Mupfurutsa and five others showed the levels of desperation in the minds of our rulers. These detentions and harassments have been completely unnecessary and a smart government could have simply allowed them to pass without any incidences.

Student's harassment is on the spiral and perennial. National University of Science and Technology (NUST) student's leaders are all just fresh from an illegal detention. Student Leaders in Mutare, including Ms Brilliant Dube, the SRC President at Mutare Polytechnic College were recently denied accommodation on the basis that they are aligned to ZINASU. Mehluli Dube (NUST), a mere student leader`s treason charges, perhaps more than all exemplifies how much this once noble revolution has begun to consume its own children.

Lovemore Chinoputsa and Fortune Chamba, both from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) were recently brutally tortured for simply enquiring when students would be returned to their halls of residence, from which they were abruptly evicted early this year. Again no explanation was offered. Professor Levy Nyagura, who will go down as the most cruel Vice Chancellor since the inception of the university can still afford a descent sleep without knowing where the children from the institution over which he presides lay their heads in these cold and rainy nights, where crime is ever on the increase because of the intensification of unmitigated hunger and poverty, arising out of high unemployment and spiralling inflation. On 9 July 2007, the University evicted all the resident students from campus accommodation. Tragically, 3 students have been murdered because they are now made to walk long distance from their new homes to the college. The recent victim, who was reported in the state-owned Herald of 2 November 2007, is Sydney Tapfumaneyi, a final year at the University of Zimbabwe, who was living in Waterfalls. Sydney was murdered in cold blood and his body was only discovered after several days. Tafirenyika Magwidi was the first victim in August 2007 when he was murdered along the Air-port road near One Commando Barrack.

The effects of removing students from their Halls of Residence have been overstated since the eviction psychosis started; however, for the purposes of emphatic repetition it is prudent to restate them. Campus life is an essential part of University's ideology, the world over. Therefore, universities oblige students to live on Campus during the course of their studies. All students live on campus and form a community that is not limited to the classroom. Campus life is an essential part of University's philosophy. Students come from varied backgrounds, and living together provides unique opportunities for them to learn from each other's experiences. Through a wide range of on-campus organizations, special interest committees and contests, students are encouraged to actively participate in campus life thereby developing them not only into academic experts but also into individuals that can function and find themselves in a community of other individuals and be able to stand on their two feet. Not to mention the convenience of having to avoid transport blues and the hustles of seeking descent accommodation and other numerous benefits that have always been the foundation of campus life in universities the world over. The government need to be reminded on The African Chapter on Human and Peoples' Rights article 17 (1) which states that everyone has a right to education.

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