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Nomusa Mdukuzi Chronicle Reporter
THE Government has surpassed by about 170 percent, its target of establishing 2,093 early childhood education centres in the country this year, with 5,668 now operational. Unveiling the 2014 National Budget on Thursday, Finance and Economic Development Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa said the education system recorded a number of achievements in 2013 despite the funding challenges facing it.
He said the target for early childhood education centres had been exceeded by 3,575.
“About 5,668 early child development centres were established, against a target of 2,093 which indicates a great achievement in the promotion of early child education in the country,” he said.
Cde Chinamasa said with help from the Unicef, the education sector has been resuscitated.
“The launch of the $54 million Education Transition Fund in 2009, administered by Unicef, contributed immensely to the resuscitation of the education system,” he said.
The minister said $49,8 million was mobilised from development partners towards the improvement of the educational sector of which $30,1 million was disbursed towards programme activities by 2013.
The minister said in a bid to reduce the level of mismanagement in schools, school heads underwent training facilitated by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education facilitated the training of school heads in financial management as a way of reducing financial mismanagement in schools,” Cde Chinamasa said.
He said that this year the educational sector recorded a two percent increase in the overall Grade 7 pass rate.
“The 2013 Grade 7 results improved from 47 percent to 49 percent highlighting some improvements in the education sector,” the Minister said.
In the 2014 budget presented by Cde Chinamasa, the educational sector was given $865,669 million, the biggest allocation of funds compared to other sectors.
Online Reporter