Online Reporter
Stephen Mpofu, Perspective
HUES and cries have been reverberating across the country through local radio against commercial enterprises sabotaging the development mantra of our beloved motherland’s Government of the masses by the masses for the masses, as parents and guardians prepare their children for the beginning of the 2026 first school term.
Instead of employing the mantra, “leaving no one and no place behind in development”, the profit moguls reportedly turn the mantra into a profit-making device by hiking the prices of textbooks, exercise books, sports kits, and other school utensils used by students, to swell their profit margins. This comes at a time when vendors, who have increased in numbers due to lack of formal employment, reportedly photocopy school textbooks to sell at cheaper prices.
Not only that. Some private schools and colleges reportedly refuse fees paid in the local currency ZiG, preferring the United States dollar, a currency that many parents have no access to.
What the above suggests therefore is that some schoolchildren will be ill-equipped and disadvantaged in their grasp of lessons at the beginning of the school term. This affects their progression in education, as the country requires well equipped people educationally for a brave new future for all developmentally.
Something equally distressing is that Covid-19 left, at its height, a distressing legacy that is manifesting itself at present. Some pupils in upper grades are unable to read fluently and are in the process incapable of pronouncing or grasping lessons, especially in the foreign English language in which most subject lessons in Secondary and University education are conducted.
Which therefore suggests that children whose parents and guardians are unable to pay fees for extra lessons face bleak futures themselves, as well as those who look up to them for advancement educationally, developmentally, and socially.
Beyond the household level, this situation exposes a deeper imbalance in how education is being supported as a public good. When access to learning materials depends largely on income, the gap between those who have and those who do not widens further. This risks entrenching inequality at an early age, long before learners have a fair chance to prove their abilities or aspirations.
There is also the question of values in a society that places profit ahead of collective progress. Education has long been regarded as a foundation for national development and social cohesion. When basic requirements for schooling are treated as luxury commodities, the long-term cost is borne not only by families but by the nation itself in lost potential and weakened human capital.
Parents and guardians are left navigating impossible choices. They must choose between meeting daily household needs and securing learning materials that are essential but increasingly unaffordable. This pressure breeds frustration and quiet despair, especially among those who value education but lack the means to fully support their children under the current conditions.
If unchecked, these trends threaten to undermine national development goals that rely on an educated and skilled population. Development cannot be sustained where large sections of society are excluded from quality education at the starting line. A shared commitment from all stakeholders is required to ensure fairness, accountability, and genuine inclusion in the education system.
The powers that be might wish to leave no stone unturned so that no Zimbabwean and no place in our country is left in the doldrums developmentally.
Those with ears to hear must act accordingly.
