Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Continued deterioration of education worrying
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
June 09, 2008

As we draw to the crucial June 27 Presidential election we are very much worried and concerned about the decline in the educational sector in Zimbabwe. The dream for education for all has since transmogrified into a melodramatic nightmare. The country's education sector has been rocked by many challenges and on the verge of collapsing. It is saddening to note that the country's examination body Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) has failed to organize Ordinary and Advanced level Examinations this year, the council has since notified examination centre throughout the country that registration for the exams has been postponed and we are not even sure if there are ever going to be written this year. We used to have a June session for the exams but with the recent developments the conducting of that exam hangs in the balance. Since the schools and colleges opened on the 29th of April there has been no or little activity due to the political uncertainties and instability facing this nation. Thousands of our lecturers and teachers are now surviving like scavengers, because of the economic hardships bedeviling the nation.

The economic hardships forced thousands of our qualified teachers and lectures to leave the country for greener pastures in other countries. Some were now doing menial jobs in a desperate bid to improve the livelihoods of their families they had left back home in Zimbabwe. It was so unfortunate for those who had gone to the neighboring South Africa that they were heavily affected by the recent xenophobic attacks, some died, some are still missing and stranded in a foreign land and the majority are back home jobless. The brain drain was a direct result of misgovernance by the then government of ZANU PF which made life difficult for most Zimbabweans. It is disheartening to note that majority of the qualified professionals in the country including teachers, lectures have lost their dignity because of the economic hardships. It is now clear Thabo Mbeki has failed the people of Zimbabwe, not only has he failed to deal with the attacks of foreign nationals in the ongoing xenophobic attacks in the country he is presiding over, he has been frustrating efforts from the African Union, United Nations and the SADC in solving the Zimbabwean crisis. Mbeki is no different to Mugabe,both are responsible for the mess this region is facing.

In the rural areas many of the teachers fell victim to politically motivated violence being perpetrated by the illegitimate ZANU PF government, many have been killed, houses burnt,maimed arrested and abducted. The crime they committed was to be recruited by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and take part in the 29 March harmonized election which Mugabe lost to Morgan Tsvangirai, they were accused of rigging in favor of the Movement for Democratic Change. The country's education sector is bleeding and in a state of collapsing and this is mainly due to misgovernance, mispriorities by those in power.

We used to boast of a vibrant and robust education delivery system worldwide but education has been plunged into a quagmire and quandary by the ZANU PF leaders who have been at the helm of this country since indepedence. Students in tertiary institutions are surviving the hardest way, they have not been spared by the power cuts, it is now difficult to do studies at night as used to be the case because of the constant power cuts. In boarding schools students are being forced to pay exorbitant top up fees and there are now being forced to buy groceries ranging from 4litres of cooking oil per student, 5kilograms of sugar, 2kilograms salt all this which can take an average family of 6 people for the whole month, surely this is day light robbery at its best.

Sanity has to be restored in the educational fraternity possibly after June 27 when the people's government is in power. The government is supposed to have subsidies in education as it is for the development of any nation. Lets not be fooled Robert Mugabe's government destroyed our education and as such we as a students union will make sure he's kicked out come 27 June. We hope that the post election period is a time that we should progress as a nation, most of the problems affecting our country are emanating from flawed constitutional reforms. There's need of setting up an independent constitutional commission whose mandate will be to craft and come up with a sound solid document for all Zimbabweans. As we have said before the constitution making process should be all-inclusive and as students we hope that we will be part and parcel in the making process, as we are greatly concerned with reforms in our educational policy. We need to come with an education coalition which will basically a partnership of education, and community stakeholders and it should focus on integrating our country's learning systems, economic development and quality of life. The coalition shall promote the value and importance of our learning systems that should offer accessible and affordable education for all ages. We should encourage education partners so that we attract and retain the highest quality of education.

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is clear in that we backing a presidential candidate who is committed to restore the integrity of the education system. A candidate and a party whose government is able to organize O' and A' Level examinations as the incumbent has failed. We need a government that is able to protect teachers and students from blood-thirsty thugs of ZANU PF. A candidate who can guarantee the welfare of starving university lecturers and students of Zimbabwe. That candidate is non other than Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and we urge all Zimbabweans to vote for him in the second election penciled for 27 June.

Visit the ZINASU fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP