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Students demand a fresh start by January 2011
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
September 27, 2010

Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) at a historical student convention held from the 13-15 August at the traditional YWCA Kambuzuma Harare collectively resolved among other things that all institutions of higher learning must close forthwith until solemn reforms are ushered in the education sector.

The union's position has been received with mixed feelings by all the stakeholders of the education sector. The position is however a principled position that deserves to be unanimously embraced by all in the interest of national building. The state of the higher education sector is recipe of future social havoc as it is creating a society of illegitimate inequalities. The current state of the education sector is also unsustainable.

Institutions of higher learning are being forced to operate mainly from funds received from the disadvantaged students and insignificant funds from the government. Most students are failing to pay the fees and this has over the years weakened the capacity of these institutions to deliver quality education. The few students who can afford to pay fees are not getting value for their money as their funds alone are not enough to revitalize the education sector.

Education has been a key for the majority of Zimbabweans to escape from the vicious circle of absolute poverty. Today the disadvantaged but deserving majority are being denied Higher education due to the discriminatory fee structures that were set by the contemporary insensitive inclusive regime. The sons and daughters of both the working class and the peasant farmers have now been relegated to a life of perpetual poverty. The talented but poor will not peacefully coexist with those who illegitimately amassed wealth at their expense.

The incumbent political and economic leaders of Zimbabwe are all products of free tertiary education and they climbed the social ladder from the most disadvantaged communities to the affluent of society through education. Denying the talented poor majority the right to education is denying Zimbabwe the able leaders that can transform our economy and change the fortunes of our troubled nation. The Robert Mugabes, Tendai Bitis and Strive Masiiwas of this generation are in Manzimnyama, Dotito and Chicualacuala where they can hardly afford a decent meal let alone the $US600 that is being demanded for them to enroll as a Law, Medicine or Economics student at any state University in Zimbabwe. But still education has to be funded.

The capacities of institutions of higher learning have been weakened over the years because of underfunding. The quality of graduates that are being produced is compromised and this will destroy the capacity of our industries to drive our economy to greater heights. The nation is turning a blind eye to the sad reality that all is not well in the education sector and our government is now living in an assumed comfort, normalizing the abnormal scenario. A radical stance is therefore imperative to force all stakeholders to revive funding towards education.

ZINASU has been forcing institutions to allow all students to write exams with or without paying fees. The union has come to the realization that this is unsustainable if government and the rest of the corporate world do not chip in to fund education. The students of Zimbabwe expect all college authorities to support the noble cause of temporarily closing institutions and awaken responsible authorities (the government and corporate world) to shoulder their responsibility of funding education.

ZINASU's piecemeal measures of protesting against individual college authorities have not been yielding results since it has only resulted in students being suspended and expelled worsening the condition of the already affected students. The students are the major stakeholder in the tertiary institutions and peacefully withdrawing will put to a halt all operations and necessitate dialogue. We hold the key to our emancipation!

The administrators in our institutions have failed to institute measures that ensure transparency and accountability in the way they manage funds and this has scared away potential funders from our education sector. Tertiary institutions have been rocked with numerous incidence of corruption and this is not healthy for a sector that desperately needs significant funding from the corporate world.

The capitalist curricular that is being dished out in tertiary institutions is also alien to the realities of our society as a nation. The graduates that are being produced are materialistic and self serving and they are not of much value to our nation in this period of rebuilding.

The governance of state institutions is partisan this has resulted in unbridled victimization of all students who are thought to be against Mugabe who is Chancellor of all Universities. 70% of the University Councils of all State institutions are all political appointees. We were hoping that the coming in of the inclusive government would initiate reforms to these anomalies since the appointment of all senior civil servants is supposed to be by consensus by all principals in the Inter Party Agreement. There is however no debate to this regard and Mugabe continue to unilaterally appoint Vice Chancellors and members of University Council.

To correct all the ills raised above it is therefore vital that the radical but progressive stance of forcing the closure of all institutions be executed "by any means necessary" and drag all stakeholders to a roundtable discussion. The products of such an engagement will be:

• More funding for the education sector culminating in free education for deserving students
• Accountable administrators that will not abuse funds meant to develop our campuses
• A curricular compatible to the realities of our society
• The reinstatement of all suspended and expelled students including reparations for these traumatized victims and respect for academic rights and freedoms
• Professional administrators appointed on the basis of merit not loyalty.In pursuing this noble cause our just cause we neither seek to please anyone nor await for approval from any quarters beyond our lecture rooms but we remain guided by our desire to see a robust and just education system.

ZINASU is rolling out a campaign to implement the resolution of the 13-15 August convention to bring a fresh start in the education sector by 2011.The ZINASU revolutionary train will move around the country beginning on Monday 27 September 2010 on a massive sensitization and mobilization drive as we seek to implement the 13-15 August resolution. The revolution is underway stand up and be counted. Together we can smash privatization!

Visit the ZINASU fact sheet

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