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In an interview yesterday, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr David Coltart, said Cabinet on Tuesday unanimously endorsed the MTP.
He said the education sector had since the introduction of the multi-currency system showed signs of stability but there was still a need to “go beyond stabilising it for improvement”.
The MTP will be implemented until 2015.
“In September 2010, Cabinet approved a short term stability plan and since then we have been consulting stakeholders both locally and internationally, which culminated into the Five-Year Medium Term Plan with seven key strategic areas,” Minister Coltart said.
“There was great concern from Cabinet Ministers across the political divide yesterday as they endorsed the MTP and soon we will have a report showing how this would be financed.”
He said the Government had no capacity to fully finance education at the moment but reiterated the need for commitment if the goals of the MTP were to be met.
“There is no capacity now but if we are committed to education we will have to look at other areas of funding. The full cost scenario entails a total of $2,1 billion and we will need assistance from international donors if these goals are to be met,” said Minister Coltart.
The Minister said the strategic goals of the five-year plan were the restoration of the professional status of teachers, revitalising the quality and relevance of learning at schools by reforming the curriculum and restructuring libraries.
With the background of the deteriorating conditions of learning at schools, Minister Coltart said the Government seeks to restore and improve conditions of learning by rehabilitating infrastructure, furniture, health and sanitation, and capacitate the Academies of Learning established two years ago.
Under the Academies of Learning, two schools were identified in each province to ensure rapid and sustainable recovery and development of the education system.
The Five-Year Medium Term Plan compels the Government to ensure quality assurance and staff development by monitoring schools and developing a computerised education system, which would see the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council being revitalised and reinvigorating systems of governance and management of schools.
Minister Coltart said the five-year plan would also ensure that resources were channelled towards special needs in education like disability, gender imbalances and marginalised children and also revitalisation of sport, arts and culture to be an integral key focus like conventional subjects.
Turning to the Education Transition Fund (ETF), the Minister said they had successfully completed Phase One of the project and would soon start Phase Two, with focus on improving infrastructure.
Vice President Landa John Nkomo recently said there was a need to equip rural schools in the country with modern facilities in order to improve their operations and keep them abreast with global developments.
Online Reporter