Chronicle Editor
Locadia Mavhudzi, Midlands Correspondent
GWERU residents have told Parliament that Government should assist in the establishment of Early Childhood Development (ECD) classes in rural areas as learning institutions there are not getting adequate support.
Speaking during public consultations on the Education Amendment Bill, a local welfare organisation, Jointed Hands programmes manager Mr Peterson Dube told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education last week that they are in support of the proposed law’s clauses that facilitate free education.
Mr Dube said the new bill must also address issues of early childhood development.
“There is need to come up with an effective teacher pupil ratio especially for infant classes because currently there is a teacher pupil ratio of one teacher against 70 pupils, a situation which is not conducive for learning. According to the current state of ECD education, government has only managed to train 37 percent of the required staff complement,” he said.
He said there is urgent need to consider free primary education for all starting with rural areas considering the prevailing economic conditions.
“The current law talks about the right to basic state funded education. The constitution should protect children from interruption of education as we are currently seeing children being excluded from school for non-payment of fees. The new bill should come up with a clear definition of basic state funded education,” he said.
“Our recommendation is that from the age of three up to secondary level, education must be free. While we know that this cannot be achieved overnight, we propose that rural and community schools must be immediately declared centres of free education.”
A local clergyman, Pastor Tapiwa Sibanda said there is need to redefine corporal punishment as sparing the rod is tantamount to spoiling the child.
“Corporal punishment should be redefined so that it is done in the interest of guiding the children. What we must do away with is the abusive manner of the traditional corporal punishment. Therefore we recommend that there should be one centre of corporal punishment that administers regulated corporal punishment,” he said.
Ms Nyasha Mahwende, a representative of people living with disabilities said all education infrastructure and learning processes must be disability friendly.
“We expect the bill to make it mandatory for sign language to be learnt at all schools since it has been officially declared one of the 16 official languages. The state should clearly define their role in the provision of disability friendly infrastructure,” she said.
Some parents recommended the extension of the tenure of school development committees from one year to two years to enable the implementation of development plans.
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