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State
of the education sector in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
National Students Union (ZINASU)
ZINASU Monthly Briefing Paper/REF 3/09
March 2009 Edition
April 16, 2009
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1.0
Introduction
It is over one
month since the inception of the Government of National Unity on
the 11th of February 2009. The formation of the inclusive Government
raised so much hope within the people of Zimbabwe who had suffered
severely due to the twin crisis of governance and legitimacy bedeviling
the nation. To date, no meaningful development has taken place in
the education sector. ZINASU has a membership base of 43 institutions
in Zimbabwe, of the 43, almost all have opened for the 2009 academic
year except the University
of Zimbabwe, but the turnout in most of the colleges is very
low. The dollarization of education continues to affect the poor.
After series of demonstrations by ZINASU over the dollarization
of education and the exorbitant fees charged by institutions, the
Government announced on the 5th of March 2009 a reduction of the
fee structures, but the fees demanded are still way beyond the reach
of many students. College authorities at the University of Zimbabwe
(UZ) announced revised fees ranging between a minimum of USD150
to a maximum of USD600 which are still unreasonably exorbitant.
The Government is still struggling to pay lecturers salaries in
foreign currency. At Midlands State University, lecturers downed
tools after the delay in the processing of salaries, resulting in
disturbances in lecturers. There is serious need for the Government
to be sincere in addressing the problems facing the education sector.
The University
Of Zimbabwe failed to open for the second time this year. Students
failed to pay the USD150 demanded by the institution, from a research
carried out by ZINASU on the 15th of March 2009; only 10% of students
had managed to pay the exorbitant fees resulting in the college
failing to open. The Government introduced the cadetship programme
in 2006 which was meant for students who could not afford to pay
for their education. To date, students who have applied for the
programme for 2009 have not received anything from the Government.
College Authorities at Bindura University and Mutare Polytechnic
College who wanted to submit the forms to the Ministry of Higher
and Tertiary Education were forced to return with the forms, the
Government was citing that the funds for the cadetship programme
were not yet available. This scenario has left many students stranded
with no alternative but to drop out of college or to go abroad and
explore other options.
The National
University of Science and Technology (NUST) administration on
the 12th of March barred students from campus for failure to produce
proof of paying the exorbitant fees. Students in the commerce fraternity
were forced to pay USD512 and USD600 for engineering students. The
institution also demanded that students pay USD200 by the 16th of
March 2009 and the remainder by month end. Many students failed
to meet the deadline resulting in many students deferring their
studies to next semester. Clearly, this scenario is without doubt
creating a whole generation of dropouts forced out of school by
economic situations. Education in Zimbabwe is now for the elite
and out of reach for the poor.
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