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WENDY Sengayi (17) is sitting for her final Ordinary Level examinations this term. She is already feeling the pressure and uncertainty that comes with examinations. This is made worse by the fact that she does not feel prepared as she missed lessons many times in the past two terms over unpaid school fees. “My class attendance was inconsistent this year because of school fees arrears. This is my last term when I sit for my final examinations. I hope to pass but have some doubts. I do not have enough text books to read while at home,” she said.
She complains that failure by her mother, a widow and vendor, to consistently pay school fees for her has virtually killed her academic hopes. “I cannot get the money to pay for my daughters’ school fees arrears at the moment. I survive on selling vegetables. I am no longer certain if she will continue going to school until writing her final exams. She is probably going to write from home. For her to pass it’s only by God’s grace,” said Wendy’s mother.
Many more school pupils are facing examinations ill prepared because they spent much of their time out of school having failed to pay fees. Terrence Moyo (14) has completely dropped out of school. Born to a single mother, who died three years ago, Terrence is on his own living hard on the streets of Bulawayo.
“I dropped out of school at 11 when I was in Grade Six, after my mother passed away in 2010. I am on the streets because I was left in the custody of my mother’s sister who also abandoned me for South Africa the same year my mother died,” he said.
In two years’ time, Zimbabwe and the rest of the world would take stock of their success and or failures in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight UN-initiated social development objectives that have influenced the global development agenda since 2000. One of the MDGs is that which enjoins governments and development partners to work to achieve universal access to primary education by 2015.
While Zimbabwe has scored highly in investment in education and ensuring that it tops in literacy rate in Africa, the socio-economic challenges of the past decade may have deprived many poor children, among them Terrence, access to primary school education.
Terrence’s situation is worse than Wendy’s, given that the primary school education which he stopped mid-stream is a basic level of education that the UN and the Government of Zimbabwe want to be universal. The fact that Wendy is in Form Four means she passed the UN threshold, but she is not necessarily better off. If she does not write her final examinations as she and her mother fear, she would lack secondary education, thus diminishing her chances of attaining her full potential.
Many other children are only in school but not acquiring full primary education due to a myriad of problems among shortage of text books, shortage of qualified teachers and other learners’ resources.
According to the 2013 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVac) Report, Matabeleland North Province has the highest number of children who are not going to school due to various reasons that include financial constraints, illness, pregnancy, disability, and long distances from the nearest school among others. The report also shows that 13 percent are out of school in Matabeleland South province while Mashonaland West had the lowest proportion of children of school going age who were not in school at the time of the assessment. About 55 percent of the children are out of school because of financial constraints and six percent are not interested in going to school.
Access to quality education is a basic right for every child but reports of some school children dropping out of school over the failure by their parents or guardians to pay school fees is one big challenge which needs urgent redress. Although the Education Act stipulates that no child shall be sent home over non-payment of levies and tuition fees, school authorities still disregard the law by sending some of their children home for the same reason.
Bulawayo provincial director of education, Mr Dan Moyo said: “It is against the Government’s policy to send pupils home over fees. It is the right for every child to access education. If schools send children home for failure by their parents and guardians to pay fees, that negates the education policy and affect the child’s future,” said Mr Moyo.
Over the past 33 years, Zimbabwe has made great strides in enhancing access to education by the majority. The Government has built schools, has mechanisms to pay fees for the under-privileged and is training teachers. The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora said the Government is committed to providing education for all. “We are still making some plans and deciding on how best we can deal with the situation to improve the education sector in the country. At the moment we are still on the ground to find out our correct position,” he said.
Educationist, Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu urged the new Government to revamp the education system that has suffered, like the rest of the economy, because of illegal sanctions. This, he said would help contribute to progress in the country achieving the UN goal to provide universal access to basic education. “Education for all should be made achievable,” he said.
The impact of illegal sanctions on education manifests itself in many ways. For instance, some development partners that used to help fund the sector stopped doing so at the turn of the millennium when America and Europe started implementing the punitive measures. Another factor is that, since the economy is under external pressure, the Government has little resources available to fund education including paying educators decent salaries.
The situation looks set to improve as the new government is holding consultations with civil service unions with a view to increasing their salaries in the next few months.
A local teacher, Mr Bernard Ncube said the Government should look into the welfare of teachers and reduce the teacher-learner ratio which stands at 1:40 in order to improve the quality of education in the country.
“As it stands the teacher-learner ratio that currently stands at 1:40 should be reduced in order to improve the quality of education in the country. The quality of education has been compromised in the past few years, due to poor remuneration given to teachers. Teachers need to be motivated for them to impart quality education to the pupils. “Teachers are getting poor remuneration and most teachers were de-motivated in the past few years, a scenario that pushed many of us to call for extra private lessons to get extra cash which many children from poor families cannot afford,” said Mr Ncube.
Online Reporter