Published by the government of Zimbabwe
3 October 2008
Harare — ZIMBABWE is well-known for its human resource development and high literacy rate that is second only to Tunisia on the continent.
This capacity came about because, as one of its priorities at independence, the Government resolved to provide education for all and invested heavily in building schools and training staff to man them.
This highly developed system is why Zimbabwean professionals are sought after the world over.
Sadly, among these professionals were thousands of teachers who emigrated in search of better working conditions and salaries.
This development left the staffing situation in schools at perilous levels.
Add to this the continued erosion of salaries and school budgets by the economic crunch, the result has been poor working conditions
that have lowered the morale of even the most dedicated professionals remaining in our schools.
Reports that in many schools, teachers have all but stopped teaching in protest over poor working conditions make sad reading.
It is said many are resorting to private lessons to get by, charging students either by the hour or the day.
While the practice cannot be condoned, neither can it be condemned outright in light of the inadequacy of the salaries teachers are getting.
The temptation would be to slam the employer, Government, for underpaying such a critical sector, but again the Government has not been spared the ravages of illegal Western sanctions.
These have damaged its capacity to meet the salaries and funding requirements of the thousands of schools countrywide.
We, however, feel it is high time Government reviewed the practice of charging nominal fees pursuant to its policy of affording education to all who need it as the environment has changed.
Parents must be levied the cost of meeting the education of their children.
Subsidies will still be needed yes, but the need for a realistic fee structure that can offset the strain on central Government cannot be over-emphasised as Government can then channel savings to better salaries for teachers.
It is a fact that education in most Government schools is almost free as parents pay only very low fees that, at today's prices, are a drop in the ocean.
Some may say the majority of parents may not be able to pay higher fees, but then we are faced with a choice of either having lower fees and equally lower education standards or higher fees and higher standards.
In light of their willingness to pay for extra lessons, we believe the majority of parents are prepared to pay for good education, as the prevailing situation is short-changing their children.
We remember a time when parents had to sell livestock to meet the costs of school fees. Looking at the level of fees being charged in Government schools today, some students do not even have to go to their parents for the fees, but can pay them from their pocket change.
This situation is not tenable; it cries for redress.
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