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Higher
and tertiary education in shambles
Zimbabwe
National Students Union (ZINASU)
December 06, 2007
When Robert Mugabe came
into power in 1980 he voluntarily proclaimed that Zimbabwe was a
jewel loaned to him and his government by the future generations
who were supposed to get it back from them in an improved state.
In his exact words while addressing a rally in1980 Mugabe said "Zimbabwe
is a jewel being loaned to us (government) by the future generations
who should hold us accountable if we fail to pass it over to them
in an improved state". Far from the word improved is where
Zimbabwe finds itself today under the continued misgovernance by
the regime of the day characterised by dictatorship, looting and
killing.
The academic genocide
which the government unleashed on 8 February 2006 continues to haunt
the students at all tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe. The 8th of
February is the day when the government of the day reneged on its
promise for 'education for all by the year 2000'.This was a clear
denial of education to those of a peasant family background and
the poor in general. The particular day remains a BLACK DAY in the
history of higher and tertiary education. This is the day when the
government of Robert Mugabe decided to comodify education thereby
making it a preserve for the elite. Several students have dropped
out of college since then whilst those who soldiered on find themselves
between a hard rock and a hard surface because of the socio-economic
and political meltdown currently obtaining in Zimbabwe.
The government,
through vice chancellors and principals, has always reacted ruthlessly
against student leaders and activists who advocate for the restoration
of a decent education system in Zimbabwe. Suspensions and expulsions
have become the order of the day as the regime try in vain to stop
the students' revolution in Zimbabwe. The recent victimisation of
student activists at Great Zimbabwe University, National
University of Science and Technology and the University
of Zimbabwe goes a long way to show how the regime is prepared
to sacrifice the voice of the voiceless for its selfish and corrupt
interests. One thing they seem not to know is that they can kill
the revolutionaries but they will never kill the revolution.
Students now find themselves
concentrating more on means of survival than their core business.
They now find themselves thinking of where they will get their next
meal and busfare to and from college, where they will put up for
the next night and how they will fund raise for typing of projects
and assignments.
More painful is the deteriorating
quality of education throughout the country due to the massive exodus
of qualified lecturers and yet the regime hibernating along Samora
Macheal avenue has done nothing to address this anomaly. Half baked
graduates, unfit for the industry, have been produced and they are
expected to help in improving the economic, social and political
crisis of this country.
My word to the government
of Robert Mugabe is that they should be aware that they will not
go unjudged and unpunished for the crimes they have committed against
the people of Zimbabwe. We will definitely hold them accountable
for failing to preserve the jewel they took over in 1980!!!
Visit the ZINASU
fact
sheet
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