Harare — THERE are many well-educated Zimbabweans who, over the decades, were privileged to attend some first class schools, or at least schools that were adequate and gave them the opportunity they needed to make their way in life.

Now many schools and many parents are suffering. It is worse than useless to state that the costs of education must be reduced.

Quality costs money and spending less money simply means that quality will suffer.

So now, for those who benefited in the past, it is payback time. The chairman of Kutama Old Boys Association, Mr Dakarayi Mapuranga, put it in a nutshell this week when he said that Zimbabweans should start giving financial and technical support to their old schools.

His own association is leading the way, helping build a new hostel and providing 60 scholarships for bright but poor boys to attend one of Zimbabwe's best schools.

So, Mr Mapuranga has backed his words with his wallet.

Many more schools need this sort of support by old boys and old girls. Zimbabweans should realise that their schools did not descend from heaven. Someone built them and many heads, teachers and parents over the years created their traditions and expanded their facilities.

Even those schools charging the highest fees needed a lot of outside help; fees at best just paid for running costs, not the buildings or many of the other necessities. And in most cases running costs were met by others such as churches outside Zimbabwe, taxpayers and communities.

In many other parts of the world, old pupils and old students have done much to help their former schools and universities, the ultimate example being the top US universities which now have endowments in the billions of dollars, as well as magnificent campuses; almost all this cash came from former students.

So there is much that a successful, even a modestly successful, old pupil can do. Even as an individual an old boy or old girl can make a mark.

A set of textbooks for one subject for one class can be bought for under US$500, for example. Even more modest gifts can help stock a library.

Organised in associations, old boys and old girls can do far more.

As Kutama has seen, large buildings can be erected and scholarships provided once former pupils work together.

We would like to see even more. No one can go past Prince Edward, Harare's oldest State school, without noting the names of some very wealthy and prominent old boys adorning modern buildings.

No harm in this; the old boys in question paid for that privilege by buying the building.

There are many Zimbabweans now who could do the same at their old school; and having one's name on a building at one's old school is more than vanity or a status symbol.

It is a declaration that this is the school that made that successful person, a sign of the regard the old pupil regards the school, and an example to the new generation of pupils now moving through the school.

Some might complain that the older schools, and the more successful schools, would benefit the most from active old pupils. This will enhance the inequalities in the Zimbabwean school system.

But we have to start somewhere.

Newer schools will benefit in time if they are building the right sort of traditions and character.

And in any case, the very limited education budget can help reduce inequalities more effectively if fewer demands are made on it.

Arguments over inequalities frequently miss the point.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with inequalities if all schools are improving but some are improving faster than others. In the end all are moving towards the unrealisable goal of perfection.

Too often too much equality means equality of mediocrity rather than equality of excellence.

The Kutama old boys have obviously realised that and have divided their gifts into two: some of the money they have raised is going on new facilities; but quite a lot is going on scholarships to ensure that many able teenagers will be able to enjoy the excellence that the old boys are fostering.

This seems the smarter way of removing inequalities; by ensuring that those who cannot afford the best can still have the best.

We hope many others will follow such an example.