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State of the education sector in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
October 31, 2008

Harare

University of Zimbabwe (UZ)

The long waited graduation ceremony at UZ is taking place today, 31 October 2008. Students have been waiting for their results since August. It is doubtful if the results are a true reflection of what the students were supposed to have learnt since there were no proper lectures in the last semester. The college is due for opening since end of August. Lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe have threatened to go on strike.

Grade 7 examinations

The Ministry of Education announced that grade 7 pupils were supposed to write their final examinations on Monday, 27 October 2008. It is disturbing to note that these students were forced to write exams without learning the whole year. Teachers have been in and out of strikes and this has serious implications on the quality and type of education the students are getting. The Secretary General for Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Mr. Raymond Majongwe insists that 2008 academic year be written off as an academic year. UNICEF has also declared 2008 a wasted academic year in Zimbabwe.

Mutare

Mutare Polytechnic College

About 80 students from the college staged a demonstration on Tuesday, 28 October 2008 over shortage of food. The Vice Chancellor of the college had announced that the college could no longer afford to provide students with all the three meals until end of semester on the 7th of December 2008. This angered the students who then staged a peaceful march. When the ZINASU crew visited the college the following day, hungry students were seen milling around the college vowing to continue demonstrating until the issue is addressed. The Secretary General of the SRC who is also a ZINASU General Councilor cited that students were angry because they are hungry and that they were supposed to have started writing their final semester exams on Monday but till Wednesday nothing was written, the administration was citing that papers had not yet arrived from Harare.

Peaceful protest

Students from various colleges staged yet another demonstration in Harare on Monday. The march coincided with the SADC troika on defense and politics meeting which was supposed to break the political stalemate in the country. More than 200 students in conjunction with other youth formations protested against the failure by the three political players in coming up with a solution to the multi-faceted crisis the country is grappling with. The march was disrupted by armed police who arrested 50 people and injured 15 in the process. The students demanded the opening of tertiary institutions, adequate funding for academic and non academic personnel among other issues.

Colleges still closed

Colleges nationwide are still closed amid speculation that many of them might open next year January. Amongst those that are closed are University of Zimbabwe, National University of Science and Technology, Midlands State University, Bindura University, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Africa University. The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Mr. W.Mbizvo announced on Tuesday that the University of Zimbabwe is opening next week Monday but highlighted that there are no lectures and the University will not be able to provide accommodation to all the students due to sanitary problems.

Recommendations / action plans

• ZINASU is organizing national protests to push for the opening of tertiary institutions
• ZINASU will host International Students Day on 17 November where various stakeholders will be invited and an all inclusive education coalition launched under the theme "Save our Education, Save our Future"
• ZINASU will engage Parliament especially the portfolio committee on education on the various issues affecting students.
• ZINASU will continue to provide platforms for public meetings as an opportunity to get public input into advocacy strategy formulation
• 2008 must be declared a wasted academic year

Visit the ZINASU fact sheet

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