Online Reporter
Fatima Bulla-Musakwa, Features Writer
ON paper, Zimbabwe’s educational future is framed by ambitious global commitments and bold national blueprints.
Having domesticated development agendas such as the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Global Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, particularly Goal 4 on quality education, Zimbabwe has pledged to ensure that, by 2030 every boy and girl completes equitable and quality primary and secondary education.
This ambition is also reflected in the country’s Vision 2030, which targets globally competitive education facilities supported by curricula aligned with industry demands.
The targets set a high bar, including indicators that track the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months, who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, as well as participation in organised learning during the year before entering primary school.
Yet, behind these ambitious policy commitments lies a more difficult and systemic reality that threatens to undermine the very foundation on which Zimbabwe’s education goals depend.
Challenges, including declining enrolment, delayed school entry and persistent spatial inequalities, highlighted in the “2025 Annual Statistical Report” by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE), indicate that access to education at primary and secondary entry points remains constrained.
The report projects a population of 407 510 four-year-olds, while total Early Childhood Development (ECD) A enrolment across all ages stands at 309 056. Age-appropriate enrollment, however, stands at just 101 772, representing roughly a quarter of the four-year-old population.
The challenge extends into the transition to primary school. New entrants to Grade One declined steadily from 430 378 in 2021 to 401 883 in 2025, representing an overall decrease of 6,6 percent.
The report further notes that the largest absolute decline occurred between 2023 and 2025, pointing to growing constraints on entry into early primary education and raising concerns about children being left behind at a critical stage of their development.
It is against this backdrop that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has stepped up its partnership with the Federer Foundation through the School Readiness Initiative (SRI), which seeks to give children a stronger start in early learning.
The initiative is being implemented by the Child Protection Society, Municipal Development Partnership, Zimbabwe Network of Early Childhood Development Actors (ZINECDA), the Tertiary Services Council and the University of Zimbabwe, alongside 14 teacher training colleges under the university’s management.
Over the past seven years, the initiative reached 1 100 primary schools. Findings from the programme have shown that, despite Early Childhood Development being fully integrated into Zimbabwe’s primary school system, some children aged four to five continue to attend community ECD centres because of the long distances to the nearest schools.
These findings have prompted the ministry and its partners to extend the initiative to 2028, with plans to reach 100 community early childhood education centres and 8 014 primary schools.
Recently, the partners met in Harare to review the SRI strategy for the next two years and develop a framework aimed at strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy in the early grades.
The discussions focused on establishing common priorities with the Government, identifying the strengthening of ECD structures as a key area, including teacher training, improved data measurement and management to track learner progress, stronger partnerships among organisations working in the sector and increased access to funding.
Director of the Child Protection Society, Ms Mercy Sakanya, highlighted the need for a unified data management system to monitor early learners’ progress against expected developmental milestones.
“I have realised that the data is there. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has data on early child education, as does the Ministry of Health and Child Care, but it is fragmented. I hope this strategy is going to take into consideration this issue of data and management to ensure that it’s integrated for better informed decision-making,” she said.
The digitisation of education management information systems was also identified as a key strategy for improving the tracking of children’s developmental milestones before they transition to junior level.
“There is a need to ensure, through digitisation, that early and foundational learning data is readily available to inform policy, decision-making and programming,” Dr Loveness Chimuka, Education
Development Trust team leader for Zimbabwe said.
“I think we have to ensure that we have digitisation of methods to track them (learners) and, knowing where they are, then we proffer appropriate remedial actions for them to ensure that they are developmentally on track,” she said.
There are some digital tools already in use as part of the initiative. Teachers are using the Smart
Tablet for Early Learning Assessment (STELA), an application loaded on an Android tablet or phone and designed to assess key developmental milestones among learners aged three to six.
STELA forms part of the SRI package of resources for ECD and has been adopted as the official continuous assessment tool for early childhood education in Zimbabwe.
The package is expected to be extended as the SRI continues through 2028.
However, while data and digital tools can help identify gaps, they cannot address the underlying resource constraints on their own. Inadequate funding continues to affect critical areas, including the professional development of teachers, who play a central role in improving early and foundational learning.
Limited funding also affects access to learning resources and the construction of schools with infrastructure suited to the needs of young learners.
The 2023 Zimbabwe Early Learning Policy notes that the high cost of ECD makes it unaffordable for many children from low-income households, with some parents opting to send their children directly to Grade One.
Ms Marcelini Kahlari, the director of Zimbabwe Network of Early Childhood Development Actors, an organisation focusing on advocacy, research and capacity development, said a significant funding gap remained in ECD, affecting the implementation of critical initiatives.
“We have less than 2,5 percent allocation of funds allocated to ECD, which means that when we are looking at the required structure and learning materials, there is a gap. So, we need to push for funding and make sure that everything that is required for an early learner in their daily life is covered,” she said.
The funding challenge is compounded by pressure on infrastructure.
The policy notes that the shortage of facilities following the integration of ECD into the formal school system has placed additional pressure on existing infrastructure, which is increasingly unable to accommodate growing learner numbers.
Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education statistics show that the number of ECD classrooms increased from 12 180 in 2021 to 14 390 in 2025. Over the same period, however, the pupil-to-classroom ratio declined from 54 to 45, partly reflecting the decline in enrolment.
For the Federer Foundation, the response requires a broader investment in early learning. The
Foundation envisions a strategy under which 50 percent of children can access early foundational learning and 12 percent can read for meaning by 2030.
Ms Angie Chitate, the foundation’s cluster director, said the organisation’s vision was to unlock US$1 billion for the ECD sector through collaboration with partners and practitioners working in the field.
“Therefore, we want to see the priorities for the Government—if they will allow us to align with the foundation and to allow us to set priorities that must be pursued for this next phase,” she said.
But while external partnerships remain important, the Government is increasingly emphasising the need for homegrown solutions, particularly when it comes to securing sustainable financing for Early Childhood Development.
The ministry has identified institutional ownership and long-term financial sustainability as central priorities for the sector, signalling a shift towards strengthening national systems rather than relying primarily on externally funded projects.
“The future of Early Childhood Development in Zimbabwe cannot depend solely on external project financing,” Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Cypren Kent Masocha, said at the stakeholders’ meeting.
“Our interventions must increasingly strengthen Government structures, build local capacity, and contribute to sustainable national systems,” he said.
For Zimbabwe, the challenge is, therefore, no longer simply about expanding access to education. It is about ensuring that children receive the right foundation before they enter the formal learning system.
The success of Vision 2030 will ultimately depend not only on what happens in secondary schools and universities, but also on whether the youngest learners receive the resources, trained teachers, infrastructure, care and support they need during the formative years of their development.
