…As the world commemorates International Day of Education

Thabiso Nxumalo

Zimbabwean education sector has for the past few years witnessed a state of chaos, characterized by teachers’ unions and government clashes over ‘peanut-salaries’, exorbitant fees coupled with indefinite school holidays owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic seeing the country lose the position it once held on the continent in terms of literacy levels.
Education is a right enshrined in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the declaration calls for free and compulsory elementary education, while the Convention on the Rights of the child, adopted in 1989 goes further to stipulate that, countries shall make higher education accessible to all.
As the world commemorated International Day of Education on January 24, schools in Zimbabwe are still closed, as they were scheduled to open on January 10, 2022 and Acting President Constantino Chiwenga further increased the Covid-19 national lockdown restrictions by two more weeks, putting the academic calendar on hold.
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, Takavafira Zhou said it is high time government invests more in quality public education and restrict the mushrooming of private schools whose main aim is profit making.
“This is a sad day for education, as it marks the fall of public sector education from grace to grace with monotonous regularity because of vandals masquerading as leaders.
“We have witnessed slackening of investment in public education, inaccessible and exorbitant school fees that have made education a preserve for the rich. We therefore call upon African governments in general and Zimbabwe in particular to invest in quality public education and restrict the mushrooming of many private schools whose main thrust is profit making as opposed to life serving skills that can enable children to function beyond the classroom,” said Zhou.
A Masvingo school head, speaking on condition of anonymity said the sector’s integrity is slowly being eroded by politicizing the education system which is draining the will of professionals in the field together with neglect of both administrative and physical structures especially in the rural areas.
“The gains we had made are seriously being eroded due to lack of political will in advancing or maintaining the enviable position we had attained as politicization of the education system has drained the will out of the few dedicated professionals in the field.
“Rural schools suffer neglect from infrastructure to staffing, there is no more moral to talk about in the system due to deplorable working conditions. This is as a result of responsible authority relegating its duty to parents and teachers to run schools,” said the head.
He also added that positively, the government has through initiatives such as Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) assisted the less-privileged in accessing education although the BEAM facility is at times abused.
“We however, applaud government and various stakeholders in their attempts to cushion the vulnerable through initiatives such as BEAM, but the effort is diluted by abuse of the system and lack of funding resulting in schools running on zero budgets, going for years before receiving funds.
“Envisage a situation where three quarters or more of learners are sponsored and there is no money for two years, hence schools struggle with buying supplies, textbooks and paying rates,” added the school head.
Great Zimbabwe University student, Calvin Muvheyi said the standards in most tertiary institutions do not match the fees they are paying.
“The education system in Zimbabwe is depreciating in terms of standards. We know that Covid-19 has dealt a huge blow in the sector and contributed hugely to the prevailing low standards, but makes it unfair as we are paying astronomical amounts of fees for micro semesters.
“The standards simply do not tally with the fees we are paying and hence we call upon relevant bodies to intervene,” said Muvheyi.
This year’s International Day of Education was running under the theme “Changing course, Transforming Education”.

Melinda Kusemachibi

A coalition of 26 residents associations working under the banner ‘Residents Association Coalition for Electoral Reforms’ has bemoaned lack of access to national registration documents and structural discrimination which they say have become obstacles in electoral processes.
Addressing a press briefing in Masvingo on January 26 on behalf of various residents associations, Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Association (MURRA) director Anoziva Muguti said delays in accessing national documents ahead of elections equals violating human rights as everyone has the right to national registration documents.
“Lack of access to national registration documents and structural discrimination has become obstacles for residents to participate in electoral processes in particular the upcoming by-elections and watershed 2023 general elections.
“We call upon the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission to urgently engage the Registrar General and investigate the causes into the delay of issuance of national registration documents as this is violating human rights and in this case the right to vote,” said Muguti.
He also said that there should be creation of an ideal environment where national registration documents are accessible to everyone.
“For the right to vote and be elected to be exercised meaningfully, it is important that there is an environment where national registration documents are accessible to residents in all parts of the country,” he said.
However, he went on to say as an organization, they also noted with concern the discriminatory practices.
“As the Nomination Court sits on the January 26, 2022 for local government and national assembly by-elections, we note with concern the discriminatory practices at the Nomination Court processes of demanding marriage certificates on female candidates and divorce papers for previously married women, while the same documentation is not required for men,” said Muguti.
This also come against a background where women comprise just 14percent of the total councilors’ population in Zimbabwe and this figure has declined by two percentage points in each election since 2013, when women comprised 18percent of the elected representatives in local government.
Muguti also indicated that as residents associations, they have engaged legal experts who are seized with the matter.
“To this end we have engaged legal and electoral experts who are seized with the matter. We therefore, make recommendations that the Residents Association for Electoral Reforms will petition Parliament on the challenges associated with voter registration including access to documentation and approach the Constitutional Court on discriminatory practices in the nomination court processes,” said Muguti.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) shelved the mobile voter registration blitz, that was supposed to start in December 2021 saying a number of new registrants had no national Identity Documents (IDs) and were giving them until February to get them, and only then would electoral body resume the exercise.
However, citizens seeking national identity cards and birth certificates are facing challenges in acquiring the crucial documents as they are asked to book first then apply later owing to a number of challenges.