Is Dokora that wrong?

Shame Isak
Others have gone to the extent of branding him the worst Minister of Education to date. While parents may have their reservations about him, they, however, have not really been as vocal as the education administrators who include headmasters and teachers at different levels.

While I am not going all out to defend or take sides with the minister, it is my firm conviction that the barrage of criticisms the minister has been receiving is not entirely justifiable.

Going back, what Zimbabweans need to remember is that the education sector was quite peaceful and progressive in terms of the learning environment and infrastructure development respectively.

This was the period between the 1980s and the late 90s when our education system was quite intact. We need to remember that during the same period the education system churned out big numbers of successful academics who went on to become household names in both industry and the academia.

Back then education was not as expensive as it is today and the population was not as big as it is today.

In the same period I remember teachers were committed to their work even if their remuneration was not one of the best.

The understanding was that in the time allocated for each subject the teacher would be able to inculcate the concepts  or knowledge he wanted to pass on to the students and this was very effective.

I also remember that where there was need, extra hours would be allocated by specific teachers for specific subjects or topics and this would usually benefit the whole class. Then there was of course the homework, the study groups and the encouragement to study hard after school.

These things were done at no extra cost to the student or parent. I am not sure then if Government was subsidising education, but that is how things were.

There was no teacher incentive. When the economy took a knock and the dollar lost value, the Government first introduced the voucher payment system and later the $100 salary for all civil servants and this is when the issue of incentives started.

The incentive gospel gathered momentum and was very popular with the teachers despite the fact that other Government departments besides the health ministry were not enjoying the same benefits.

This was understandable though and schools came up with various methods of making sure that cash would be available for their incentives from school fees hikes, to entrance tests, and various forms of other dubious charges or levies.

Let’s not forget that while this was happening, the salaries changed for everyone in the civil service but the teachers had not stopped receiving incentives. Back then the love for the job and profession motivated the educationists to deliver their best, but after tasting ‘‘mari yekuburner’’ it seems the teachers wanted more and more and money has become the motivating factor.

If students back then would pass by studying in the time allocated, myself included, I wonder why the schools are angry with Minister Dokora for controlling the situation because surely we cannot have a situation where students are always ‘‘learning’’ with little or no time to rest and gel with their families.

Right now the nation is grappling with the threat of family disintegration and increased isolation among members caused by the advent of social networks.

Can somebody explain where this will leave us if the current scenario in the education sector is not addressed and addressed now.

It is not extra lessons that will make students extra bright or pass. It is the effective use of availed standard time that does and the sooner educationists stopped pretending to be very committed to the cause of the students the better.

In this whole saga, it is not really the interests of the students at heart but those of the teachers and headmasters because they want to benefit financially. Isn’t it surprising that with all these extra lessons the country’s academic pass rate has not been that impressive in the past ten or so years, why?

Minister Dokora is in the firing line for trying to implement even what his predecessor, David Coltart, recommended and would constantly talk about namely discouraging schools from sending students away for not paying school fees and freezing of school fees or levy increases.

The issue of incentives was also topical during Coltart’s reign and I don’t see anything unusual in what Minister Dokora is trying to implement. In fact, I believe it is in the best interests of education.

Teachers and headmasters have been taking advantage of the shortage of schools to make as much money as they can and some of this money has been abused by the same upon which several reports were made to the police.

Money intended for the development of the schools or the welfare of the students is being diverted by these people who are now crying louder than the bereaved.

The country needs about 2 056 more schools and with such a deficit obviously there is bound to be chaos and the sooner the situation in corrected the better.

Minister Dokora needs time to implement what his predecessor failed to do and the sooner we start to support him the better.

Minister Dokora is an action man and I believe what he wants for the education sector is to go back to basics.

It is appreciated for sure that with the economic downturn the education sector, just like every other sector, has experienced unprecedented levels of difficulty due to shoestring budgets and non-availability of funds due to a number of factors among them the erratic payments of fees by parents who are equally hard pressed.

Honestly speaking, what the minister is advocating makes sense and at the same time what the schools or headmasters and teachers are also saying does make sense because change is one thing we can avoid at our own peril.

Now to resolve this impasse, I believe engagement is the only way out and stakeholders must always be sincere in the concerns they will be raising, knowing that what is at stake here is the future of this nation tied up in those children.

We are not saying teachers must not enjoy the fruits of their sweat neither are we saying education must literally be free, but there has to be a professional and economic balance meanwhile upholding the children’s rights especially the right to education. It’s so dehumanising and demoralising for students to be chased away for the responsibility of adults.

Adults must engage each other while students are undisturbed, otherwise they will be affected. It’s important for educationists to see the future first in these students before they salivate for the dollar they are likely to get from the same.

One other thing as Zimbabweans, let’s avoid this habit of always calling for President Mugabe’s intervention even for matters that can be easily resolved among ourselves. Able-bodied professionals and academics cannot surely fail to find common ground on simple business issues.

In conclusion if some individuals trained as teachers without the English subject or enough O-Level passes, then the situation must surely be corrected and maybe the question to ask is how they were enrolled in the first place because I believe there are many with the requisite passes who could not be accommodated by the same training institutions.

Finally kudos to Manicaland because I hear we have the lowest proportion of people who have never been to school at 6,4 percent.

• Shame Isak is a political analyst, business management consultant and preacher. He can be contacted on 0773 018 662, 0714 698 784, WhatsApp and Facebook.