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Quality versus cost: Zimbabwe's education conundrum
Students Solidarity Trust
February 10, 2012

A strong foundation is pivotal for the sustainability of any structure and education is no different. Indeed, a strong early childhood foundation is an important introduction to their educational journey. Governments and parents alike invest hugely in this foundation, acknowledging its importance to societal regeneration, social cohesion and national development. This multi-tear structure comprises of amongst other considerations, infrastructure available at the education centre, the cost of attaining education and the quality and ability of those charged with dispensing education to the students. In all this, education centers become pivotal in marketing and branding themselves as they seek loyalty, allegiance and patronage from parents, government and other stakeholders.

The release of the grade seven results is a clear testament of the difficulties in striking a balance between cost of education and the associated quality. The ranking of schools based on how students fared raised a number of important questions all stakeholders must pay careful consideration to. How much correlation is there between the sometimes exorbitant cost of education and the recently released results? How else would parents know where to take their children? And how can education centers strike the balance between the cost of what they provide and the needs of the children and parents?

Still nursing the hangover of a warped pricing system induced by the rapid deterioration in worth of the Zimbabwean dollar, Zimbabwean parents continue to pay through the roof for their children to go to school. Believing in the ethos that education is a foundation to good life, parents have gone out of their way to ensure that their children have the best possible start. Education centers have seized upon this and continue to push the cost of education out of parents' reach. Despite the high cost of learning for the youngsters, grade seven results seem to reveal that not all that is costly is quality. Some of the renowned schools fared averagely and some soul searching is important for both parents and school administrators.

However, on the other side of the discussion are people who opine that the cost is to maintain infrastructure in order to mould an all-rounded child. The cost therefore may not necessarily be to improve the academic standing of the school but to ensure that the child is molded into the best they can be, in sport for instance. Parents therefore go the extra mile in the hope that academic failure of the child is not the end of the road and that there will be other avenues opened.

As Zimbabwe's education sector continues to be rebuilt, concern has been raised as to how much government must contribute. Realizing that local revenue is unable to satisfy the financial needs of a sector decimated through years of neglect; initiatives have seen government collaborating with the international community. Driven by Senator David Coltart, the education transition fund bringing together the Zimbabwean government, United Nations Agencies and other international partners has brought a modicum of stability to the primary and secondary education sector. Noting that there is still a lot to do, parents have also been asked to chip in with school fees that in some instances beggar belief.

Sadly, an analysis of the grade seven results recently released indicate that there is need for all stakeholders in the education sector to come together to ensure that parents are not fleeced by unscrupulous and bogus educational institutions. There is need to regularly and continuously assess and rank the schools in agreed categories using standard and agreed criteria. Parents should have at their disposal sufficient knowledge of education centres from independent rankings and sources in order to fulfill their parental duty of determining what is best for their children as they embark on the arduous and tenuous journey of life.

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