The ManicaPost
Freedom Mutanda
Correspondent
A BRIGHT pupil, Farai Muzii, (not his real name), trudges to the dip tank with a herd of cattle belonging to a well-known livestock farmer, Magaisa Magaisa, and he ponders about a lost opportunity to make it as a medical doctor in one of Zimbabwe’s universities.
He could not continue with his education as he was unable to pay for the 2012 Ordinary Level examination fees.
Sanctions, generally referred to as targeted by the perpetrators, have hit the education sector hard.
Farai is one of the unsung victims of the sanctions regime which has been in existence since the 2002 tiff between Zimbabwe, the European Union and United States of America over a bilateral issue emanating from Government’s land reform policies meant to right a colonial wrong.
Britain flew to the defence of her kith and kin.
Farai is not alone in his predicament, as thousands of jobs were lost following the closure of companies, and the knock-down effect was an unprecedented level of school drop outs as parents could not afford basic necessities resulting in schooling being regarded as a luxury.
A nation without an educated populace is doomed to fail.
Zimbabwe is among the finest educated countries in Africa, notwithstanding the sanctions regime.
Imagine what would have been the case had these restrictive measures not in place?
As a human right, education’s importance can never be overemphasised.
Therefore, denying some children of their inalienable human rights by the so-called champions of human rights is a reversal of what they always preach to the world as they have abrogated themselves the title ‘leaders of the free world.’ History will judge them harshly.
If a part of a generation is unable to access education owing to sanctions, it is a travesty of justice.
As the economy took a nosedive, public expenditure on education tumbles as well. 2007 and 2008 evoke bitter memories to a number of teachers, and children who ended up sitting for examinations without covering their syllabus, yet they were expected to pass.
As the economy meltdown bit, teachers had to look for greener pastures in countries such as Botswana, South Africa, and others dotted around the globe.
Resultantly, the brain drain suffocated the education system especially in the Mathematics and Science areas.
Thus, the scientific future of Zimbabwe was held to ransom.
In the case of Farai, the country will never know if he was going to be a leading light in scientific inventions or not because he was never given the chance.
The best teachers left, and the country’s education system was left poorer.
Moreover, the economic disparities resulted in schisms in the education sector with the well-to-do families establishing private schools which took a different path to assessment as they opted for Cambridge examinations.
Consequently, there was a mad rush to enrol children in these ‘good’ schools, while public schools suffered from the deteriorating economic environment in the wake of the debilitating sanction regime fronted by ZIDERA which the USA passed in 2004, ostensibly to resuscitate democratic ideals in Zimbabwe, yet the USA itself has smelly skeletons in its cupboard.
Zimbabwe could not access financial aid from multilateral institutions where the USA holds sway, and as a result, the country’s growth trajectory is heavily compromised, with the result that the State cannot remunerate the teachers who in embark on wildcat strikes.
In spite of Government’s attempts to assuage the restive teachers by increments, the black market rates push the salaries below the poverty datum line as the official exchange rate pales into insignificance with the street value of the hard currencies.
When teachers teach in fits and starts, the ultimate loser is the pupil.
Back in the day, we used to go to school and learn; the moment we ended the term, it was back to life in the village-playing and playing until we opened school again. The trend continued until the early 2000.
Teachers taught during the term, and there were no cases of extra lessons. Of late, extra lessons have become the in-thing in all areas.
However, the extra lessons have been the elephant in the room for long, with teachers saying that if a parent comes asking them to help a pupil, they have to come in, and help, albeit with a financial inducement.
Do you think that teachers who have for long not asked for extra lessons have suddenly decided to be mercenaries of late?
Sanctions have stifled the economic development of the nation rendering the education moribund.
The blame game can continue, but it would have been ideal if the economy was firing from all cylinders for the teachers to complain that Government is insincere and callous.
Sanctions should be lifted, and the economy revived.
Public schools enrol the majority of pupils, therefore, the state of public schools should reflect the desire for them to offer quality education.
However, in rural areas, Science education is compromised by the absence of teachers and laboratories.
A new trend is emerging where ‘good’ schools wish to go private as they demand US dollars for fees in their quest to proffer quality education to pupils.
These authorities are hiding behind their fingers in an attempt to arm twist parents to pay the exorbitant fees.
For a long time, education in Zimbabwe was affordable, but the moment the currency tumbled as a result of market distortions, fees shot up, and the long suffering parent are struggling to pay fees, and avail other educational resources.
It is a fallacy to say that only leaders suffer from the targeted sanctions.
Despite the sanctions, Government has put in place measures to mitigate the effects of sanctions on education by instituting BEAM (Basic Education Assistance Module) where learners from vulnerable backgrounds are assisted with school fees and examinations fees, but there is so much that Government can do.
End the sanctions regime, and education in Zimbabwe can go back to the days when parents could fund their children’s education without resorting to donors.
Government can have the taxes to run its machinery without any hindrance.
