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SST
on the Day of the African Child
Students Solidarity Trust
June 16, 2010
The Students
Solidarity Trust (SST) community and its partners join the African
community in commemorating the Day of the African Child. As we commemorate
this important day we reflect on the justified South Western Townships
or in short Soweto uprising in protest against repressive and suppressive
conditions of learning largely similar to contemporary Zimbabwe's
own 34 years after. 12 year old Hector Zolile Pietorson and 62 others
lost their lives due to heavy-handedness reaction by white supremacist
police on June 16, 1976. By August 1976, 575 people had been killed
after the unrests spread throughout Apartheid South Africa and over
2 000 people had been arrested and tortured.
Zimbabwe's
contemporary and Apartheid South Africa's conditions of learning
A striking
resemblance of 1976 Apartheid South Africa and contemporary Zimbabwe's
conditions of learning can be drawn. Then in 1976 black students
did not have enough teachers and textbooks and other equipment.
Teachers were not being properly trained and they earned little
money. The schools were overcrowded and poor. Students lived with
their parents and guardians in poor conditions and in two or four
roomed "match-box" houses. Their parents were afraid
of police and the white government to press for a dignified life.
The apartheid government wanted to force the students to have half
of their subjects taught in Afrikaans. There was separate quality
education for children of rich parents. The corrupt West Rand Administration
Board (WRAB) charged exorbitant fees for services which were never
improved and got worse each day. Repressive laws such as the 1952
Group Areas Act were in place.
In contemporary
independent Zimbabwe 34 years on, there is a glaring shortage of
teachers, textbooks and other equipment. In most schools ten students
share one text book. A significant number of teachers left the profession
either going abroad or into the informal sector in search of greener
pastures. Teacher training colleges are not getting enough government
support. Teachers earn as little as US$150 which is far below the
poverty datum line. Schools are overcrowded and the teacher workload
is high. Most students are living in poor conditions. The majority
of teachers are living in squalid conditions in "match-box"
houses or rooms divided by curtains sharing. There is separate elite
education for those children of richer parents in most cases top-government
officials in A-schools or abroad. The government is charging for
services which are not improving and in most instances getting worse.
Repressive Public
Order and Security Act and other laws that infringe on the students'
freedoms of association, movement and speech are in place. The heavy
handedness of police in reacting to unarmed students in contemporary
Zimbabwe is a common phenomenon.
Throughout
the country a record number of more than 10 600 students have been
expelled, suspended, deregistered, barred from writing examinations,
dropped out from schools and colleges, evicted from campus residence,
hauled before kangaroo students disciplinary hearings or arrested
and tortured by law enforcement agents from year 2000. Professor
Levi Nyagura Vice Chancellor at the University
of Zimbabwe (UZ) has expelled or suspended more than 104 student
activists since year 2000 and evicted more than 4500 students from
halls of residence on July 9, 2007 after issuing out a 30 minutes
notice. Students who are not fully paid up are not being allowed
into libraries and examinations. Batanai Hadzizi just like Zolile
Hector Pietorson was allegedly gunned downed during UZ June 2, 2003
"Final Push" march to President Mugabe's state
house. Student activist Lameck Chemvura was allegedly thrown out
of a moving train while on the run from UZ trying to evade central
intelligence officers and died instantly.
Comprehending
the ageless role of students
Students'
struggles the world over and from time immemorial have not always
necessarily been about their own interests, but the interests of
the masses. Students have been the voice of the voiceless, the vanguards
of democracy and the most courageous and articulate on issues affecting
the masses. South African students initiated a revolution in June
1976 that later saw learners who became known as the "class
of 76" leaving apartheid South Africa for military training
in other countries. The only notable victories against the occupying
Israel forces have always come from non-violent student activities,
beginning with the earlier attempt [1980] by Israel to put universities
curricula under civil administration and relatively recent Intifada.
Most of Zimbabwe's ex-freedom fighters were school children
who left classes for military training in other countries. Another
striking example is the famous struggle that began on April 17,
1989 when students flocked to lay wreaths in the Monument of the
Martyrs of the People, in memory of ex-Secretary General of the
communists Hu Yaobang. He had supported students call for reform.
The ruling communists were shaken as pamphlets littered the city
calling for democracy and as days turned into weeks the students
were relatively triumphant. The struggle of Mongolian students on
International Human Rights Day of 1989 - where students marched
to the capital Ulaanbaatar as a rock band khonk (bell) played music
speaks also to the unchanging role of students.
In post-independent
Zimbabwe in the 1990s, students dared challenge the ruling nationalist
bourgeoisie by exposing the treachery and betrayal of this elite
that had appropriated the national liberation gains for its self-entrenchment
and aggrandizement. The students had seen that the revolution had
lost its way and the then professed socialist transformation was
a mere gimmick to bring about the dictatorship of the ruling oligarchy.
The students were therefore speaking and agitating on behalf of
the masses and workers whose interests were being sacrificed. To
this day students are playing a watchdog role in making sure that
Zimbabwe's inclusive government realises key deliverables
of enunciated in the September 15, 2008 Inclusive Political Agreement
document which are economic recovery, new constitution, fresh free
and fair elections and national healing, reconciliation and integration.
With this year's theme, "Planning and budgeting for
children: our collective responsibility", the Zimbabwe's
inclusive government and all African governments are enjoined to
increase funding of their education sectors.
The contemporary
demands of the students are guided by Article 28 and 29 of The United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other International
conventions and covenants on the right to education and are as follows:
1. States Parties
recognise the right of the child to education, and with a view to
achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity,
they shall, in particular:
(a) Make
primary education compulsory and available free to all;
(b) Encourage the development of different forms of secondary
education, including general and vocational education, make them
available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate
measures such as the introduction of free education and offering
financial assistance in case of need;
(c) Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity
by every appropriate means;
(d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available
and accessible to all children;
(e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and
the reduction of drop-out rates.
Visit the Students
Solidarity Trust fact
sheet
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