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Old wine in new wineskins
Students Solidarity Trust
August 29, 2012

The importance of education to progress and development of a country can never be over emphasized. Indeed, the then Zimbabwean government of the early 80s recognized this. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions were constructed amid pomp and fanfare. Slogans such as "education for all" were adopted and products of the era of investment are there for all to see, not only within the geographical confines of Zimbabwe but the world over. Products of Zimbabwe's education system are sought after the world over epitomising the quality of education Zimbabweans enjoyed during this period.

However, this proved to be a false start as Zimbabwe regressed into a state intent on being a stumbling block to the fledgling academia. Demonstrations at colleges were violently and heavy-handedly broken up, student leaders were arrested, suspended and expelled and college authorities waded in with inexplicable decisions against students. As the need to preserve and protect political turf grew, resources were diverted from education to defence. The net result was a privatisation of education and a system unable to sustain itself due to no resources. Even the human resource capital built over time has been decimated by the uncaring attitude exhibited by the government.

Zimbabwe's political circus has meant that very little effort has been put towards resuscitation of the higher education system. The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart has tried his best to restore education to its rightful place. However, he has received very little if any complement from his counterpart in the higher and tertiary education ministry Dr Isack Stanslus Gorerazvo Mudenge.

A myriad of problems currently bedevil the higher education system including the high fees, an unfriendly learning environment and a lack of qualified lecturers in many of the institutions under the doctor's ambit. Faced with these realities, the Minister has been conspicuously silent as students have been roughed up left, right and centre.

Instead of complementing efforts by the finance ministry, the Higher and Tertiary Education ministry has been busy castigating their colleagues, attacking them for not releasing money and for not consulting. As students continue being chased away from colleges and universities for being poor, the ministry remains aloof and has not stamped its foot to condemn such an abominable act by those college authorities under them.

Despite Minister Tendai Biti's assurances that money will come through, functionaries of colleges and universities continue to stone heartedly bar students from accessing this basic human right.

The coming in of the inclusive government promised to usher in hope and prosperity for Zimbabweans. However, as long as we have old wine in the form of incompetent elements in the ministry of higher and tertiary education and their functionaries who see themselves as irreplaceable in the colleges and universities, the new wineskins in the form of the transition and reformed institutions will not be able to hold. It is now high time that we introduce new wine into these new wineskins to ensure Zimbabwe's sustained development. The old wine and the pedantic old wineskins must now leave the Zimbabwean stage.

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