Online Reporter
Stephen Mpofu, Perspective
EARLIER this week, representatives from an education coalition expressed concern on a local radio station about the fatigue experienced by children walking 8 kilometres one way to school. This was a subtle suggestion that measures should be taken to reduce the distances children travel in their pursuit of education and, consequently, skills for national development, in line with our President’s philosophy: “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo/a country is built by its owners”.
In response to the reported plight of the schoolchildren, a spokesman for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education stated: “The Government is constructing more schools through public-private partnerships to ensure that there is a primary school within 5 kilometres and a secondary school within 10 kilometres.”
This news from the ministry deserves celebration by all Zimbabweans, particularly those in rural areas where the majority of the population resides and where learners have to walk long distances to access education, unlike their counterparts in urban areas where schools are present in virtually every residential area.
Zimbabwe is rated among the African countries with the highest literacy rates. The government’s reported moves to bring schools, and thus education, closer to more people will undoubtedly boost our nation’s literacy rates to even higher levels on the continent. However, high literacy not matched by job skills will not overcome developmental challenges.
Our independent government is addressing what the colonial and racist Rhodesian regime either deliberately or ignorantly failed to do. As a result, many black Zimbabweans who could not access basic, let alone higher, education migrated to the diaspora, especially South Africa, where the Boers in power needed cheap labour that oppressed fellow blacks in that country could not provide.
As someone born and raised in rural Rhodesia, I was among the pupils who travelled long distances to school from our villages, riding donkeys that were tethered to trees and released when classes were over. The hungry mounts would gallop back home much faster, with the riders clinging tightly to their backs.
There are still areas in the countryside, dubbed the “sticks” by colonial rulers, where schools built by missionaries are not easily accessible to learners.
The racist colonial Rhodesian regime preferred an uneducated population to provide cheap labour, fearing that educated blacks would challenge it, which indeed happened, leading to our self-governance today.
With our majority Government and private partners bringing education closer to the people, primary and secondary schools will eventually become accessible to everyone. Therefore, patience is essential.
Patriotism, unity, and peace should help accelerate the provision of education closer to Zimbabweans wherever they live, equipping them with the skills to develop our motherland for the benefit of every citizen and to enjoy a brighter future.
So, let us all patriots celebrate whenever our government, on its own or with the help of good Samaritans, fills unsightly potholes, cuts down trees, and levels anthills obstructing our path to independence and sovereignty, leading to a brighter future.
But to return to the subject of this discourse, education, all progressive Zimbabweans should crack sumptuous smiles at reports that a total of 8 000 teachers would be recruited this year alone as that literally amounts to the icing on Zimbabwe’s education cake.
Epela — or end, as some people in neighbouring Zambia would say.
