 | |
| Educational oversight | |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Ministry of Tertiary and Higher Education | Dr. Tonderayi Moyo Amon Murwira |
| National education budget (2013) | |
| Budget | $750 million (public, all levels)[1] |
| General details | |
| Primary languages | English,Shona,Ndebele |
| System type | State |
| Established Initiated | 17 October 1982 4 May 1980 |
| Literacy (2023) | |
| Total | 90.7%[2] |
| Male | 91.0%[2] |
| Female | 89.1%[2] |
| Enrollment (2023) | |
| Total | 4 659,993 |
| Primary | 93.9%[3] |
| Secondary | 73.8%[3] |
| Post secondary | 10 %[3] |
Education in Zimbabwe under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for primary and secondary education, and theMinistry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development for higher education. Both are regulated by theCabinet of Zimbabwe.[4] Theeducation system inZimbabwe encompasses 13 years of primary and secondary school and runs from January to December.[5] The school year is a total of 40 weeks with three terms and a month break in-between each term.[5]
In 1980, education was declared a basic human right byRobert Mugabe, the leader of theZANU party, which changed the constitution to recognize primary and secondary public education as free andcompulsory.[6] One of Zimbabwe'sMillennium Development Goals was to achieve universal education for all students; however, the goal was not achieved as of 2015 due to a public health crisis, economic downturn and inability to afford costs associated with education.[7] The country is currently working toward theSustainable Development Goal of providing universal and free education to all students by 2030.[8] Zimbabwe had an adult literacy rateof 88% in 2014.[9]
Despite education being recognised as a basic human right in Zimbabwe, in 2017, the Zimbabwean Government did only 77.2% of what was possible at its income level to ensure that the right to education was being fulfilled, categorically, the government's ability to fulfil this right as "bad". This data is collected by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative. The initiative also breaks down the right to education by calculating Primary and Secondary School Enrolment. Keeping Zimbabwe's income level in mind, Zimbabwe is doing only 61.9% of what should be possible at its income level for secondary school enrolment and 92.4 percent for primary school enrolment.[10]
TheBritish South Africa Company arrived in the 1890s toRhodesia, the area now known asZimbabwe,Malawi andZambia.[11] TheCompany administration of Rhodesia created Christianmissionary schools to serve local communities. Missionary schools provided an education for theindigenous population that focused onagricultural production and industrial development includingcarpentry and building.[12] N.J. Atkinson claims that in order to control the local population, theCompany limited education and censored knowledge in schools.[11] Furthermore, he argues that theeurocentric education system was a structural institution that reinforced the superiority of White settlers even though, they were the minority of the population.[11]Missionary schools perpetuated social and economic repression of the indigenous population by reducing their chances of earning well-paying jobs or positions of power.[13] Rugare Mapako claims education to Africans offered limited academic and foundational skills in order to promotelabor exploitation andindentured servitude.[14] Limited access to a quality education keptAfricans subordinate and inferior to White colonists in order to advanceBritish political and economic gains.[13]
Due to large investments in education by the Southern Rhodesian government prior to 1960,[15] Europeans were disproportionately funded more for education than the majority African population because theRhodesian government controlled access to quality schools based onrace, prejudice andethnicity.[16]Segregation of schools based on funding was most extreme in the 1970s because Europeans only represented a few per cent of Zimbabwe's population, but were allocated slightly less than half of government spending on education.[17] Funding secondary school was also disproportionally offered to Europeans rather than Africans.[18] In the 1970s, only 43.5% of African children attended school, while only 3.9% of these children enrolled in secondary school.[19]
In 1979, the new government ofZimbabwe Rhodesia called for an education reform that created a three-tier school system.[20] The Education Act of 1979 regulated access to each type of school through azoning system based on residency.[16] Before the act, Zimbabwe's education system was divided between African and European schools.[16] After the shift in policy and leadership the education system split into government schools, community schools and private schools. Government schools were also split into three divisions called Group A, B and C. White students historically attended Group A schools that offered highly trained teachers and a quality education.[16] These schools were located in whitesuburbs that denied housing opportunities for Africans, reinforcing segregation based on ethnicity and race.[16] Group B schools required a low-fee payment and C schools did not require a fee beyond educational materials. Both were only available for African students.[16] Group B and C schools had less resources, funding and qualified faculty compared to Group A schools.[16]
TheRhodesian Bush War from 1964-1979, a fifteen-yearguerrilla war, catalysed the shift in power from British colonial rule tode juresovereignty in 1980.[21] The ZANU party,Zimbabwe African National Union, won thenational election in 1980 and took over the historicWhite minority government inRhodesia.[21][22] The ZANU party democratised education by promising free and compulsory primary and secondary education to all children in Zimbabwe. The party's claims were backed by the nationalconstitution, which recognises education as a basichuman right.[23] All primary school tuition fees were abolished afterindependence.[23] Dr. Dzingai Mutumbuka was elected the Minister of Education to support Zimbabwe through another education reform and to keep students in school. His leadership changed the climate of the education system because the Ministry of Education focused on fostering self-sufficient students that are productive, motivated and dedicatedcitizens.[24] The government allocated 17.3% of the total national budget toward education.[23] This was politically considered an "education miracle" as cited by scholar Clayton Mackenzie.[23] Ultimately, Zimbabwe's education system reform was to ensure equal access to education by providing primary and secondary education to all children.[24]
Since independence, thegovernment focused on providing equal and free education for all through the rapid expansion of education resources to keep up with the demand.[23] Within one year, the education system nearly doubled the number of students it served from 885,801 students to 1,310,315 students in primary and secondary education.[23] Exponential increases in the number of students attending school heightened the need for more infrastructure and teachers.[25]
Teachers were in high demand immediately followingZimbabwe's independence. In the mid-1980s, thousands ofrefugee children fromMozambique emigrated to Zimbabwe, increasing the number of children attending public schools and demand for teachers.[citation needed] The Minister of Education brought in teachers fromAustralia,Britain andCanada for a short period of time to fill the teaching gaps.[citation needed] Schools expanded their human resources to serve as many children as possible with limited infrastructure by practicing "hot-seating," also known as double session schooling. "Hot-seating" is the practice of offering class in the morning to half of the students and in the afternoon to the other half.[26] "Hot-seating" was still not enough to meet the demands of the population; therefore, the Ministry of Education expanded teacher education colleges rapidly by providing "on-the-spot"teacher training.[citation needed][26] In 1986, 8,000 additional teachers were trained to meet national demands.[23]
Communities also rapidly built more infrastructure for education. For example, from 1979-1984, the number of primary schools in operation increased by 73.3% and the number of secondary schools increased by 537.8%.[23] Despite the challenges following the magnitude of students to educate, Zimbabwe claimed to achieveuniversal primary education by the end of the 1980s.[citation needed] By the 1990s, primary schooling was nearly universal and over half the population had completed secondary education.[25]
UNICEF claims that the country's education system was once the most developed on thecontinent, although the system continues to suffer from a contemporary decline in public funding linked tohyperinflation andeconomic mismanagement.[27] A decrease inGDP by 40% from 2000-2008 marked a period of economic downturn in the first decade of the twenty-first century.[27] Social expenditures on health and education also decreased by more than half.[27]
By the end of 2008, most schools and hospitals were shut down due to thousands of teachers leaving the profession, an economic crisis, an increase inHIV and AIDS, and anoutbreak of cholera in 2008 leading to a national epidemic.[28]UNICEF asserted that 94 percent of rural schools, serving the majority of the population, closed in 2009.[29] During this period of timeUNICEF also claimed that attendance rates plummeted from over 80% to 20%.[29] The economy regained momentum after 2009 once theGovernment of National Unity was formed. This is aninclusionary government developed to resolve national challenges.[30] The Government of National Unity suspended theZimbabwe currency to implement fulldollarization, reducing hyperinflation and increasing social expenditures.[31][32]
Zimbabwe's focus on expanding education opportunities for the past 25 years has led to national accomplishments including achieving aliteracy rate comparable to other Africa countries at 51% from ages 15 to 24.[33] As of 2014, 3,120,000 students were enrolled in primary and secondary education and 76% of these students were enrolled in primary education.[33]
As of early 2020s, the education system has been reported to be grossly underfunded.[34]
After nearly a century of British colonial rule, theZimbabwe African National Union took over Zimbabwe and formed an independent country in 1980. The newly formed government created free and compulsory primary and secondary education, valuing education as afundamental right.[35] This fundamental right was clearly articulated in the Education Act of 1987.[36] The act also abolished all methods ofdiscrimination from the Education Act of 1979.[37]
The Education Act of 1996 and the Disabled Persons Act of 1996 furtherednondiscriminatory policy by requiring that "all students, regardless of race, religion, gender, creed, and disability, have access to basic or primary education (up to Grade 7)."[38] These nondiscrimination provisions expanded the right to education in Zimbabwe for all students, including students withdisabilities.[36]
The Education Act of 2006 established School Development Committees. These committees are overseen and established by the School Parents Assembly for parents and guardians of school-going children to participate in the development of Zimbabwe's schools.[35] According to the government's Statutory Instrument 87 of 1992, the purpose of School Development Committees is to:
School Development Committees have many functions to control the quality of the school system. Their powers include therecruitment and dismissal of teachers, the preservation of facilities and the act of borrowing money and applying forgrants.[35] These committees alsodecentralized the education system by enabling parents to elect five other parents to lead a school. The decentralization of schools combats the highlycentralized structure of the government in hopes to assist the operation and development of education.[26]
In 2013, the government created theMinistry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to fostersocial cohesion,economic empowerment and educational development in primary and secondary schools.[39] The Minister of the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture wasAndrew Langa untilPresident Mugabe fired Langa in September 2015.[40] Langa was replaced by Makhosini Hlongwan and the ministry's name changed toMinistry of Sports and Recreation as of 2015.[40]
Currently, government primary and secondary schools are run by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) and non-government schools are run by local authorities including churches and non-profit organizations.[4] The Minister of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is Evelyn Ndlovu as of 2021. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development (MoHTES&TD) oversees public and private universities and technical and teacher education.[citation needed]
Preschools are directed by the Early Childhood Development (ECD) system under the Ministry of Primary and Second Education.Early childhood education is offered for children from the ages of three to five through the ECD.[41] According toUnited Nations and the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, Zimbabwe is prioritizing and expanding Early Childhood Development by offering early childhood education at primary schools.[42][43] These programs are currently available in mostly urban areas and can be owned by the government, organizations or individuals.[41] In fact, 98 percent of primary schools have ECD centers for ages four to five and 60 percent of primary schools have ECD centers for ages three to four with trained teachers.[43]
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Zimbabwe's education system mandates seven years ofprimary school, encompassing Grades 1 to 7.[44] Urban primary schools teach in English.[5] Rural primary schools teach students in their local native language, typically inShona orNdebele, then transition toEnglish by Grade 3.[5] Student to teacher ratios are typically from 30 to 50 students per teacher; however, this varies based on location, thecountry's economic state and yearly budget for education.[13][45] The curriculum in primary schools encompassesLanguage,Art, Contents andMath.[41] Based on the Education Secretary's Policy Circular No. 12 in 1987, "the minimum expected educational outcome for all students isfunctional literacy andnumeracy by the end of primary school."[38]
At the end of Grade 7, students take a national examination in Mathematics,*Agriculture* English, Shona or Ndebele and the General Paper coveringSocial Sciences,Environmental Science andReligious Education.[13][46] Zimbabwe's government system requires education for all, but this examination can determine the type of secondary school students can attend based on the school's criteria.[13]Private orreligious schools typically have performance requirements, but many rural public schools allow "mass admission" regardless of performance on the examination.[13]
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Secondary education is not funded by the government and students can attendprivate boarding schools, government boarding school orday school, all with an enrollment fee.[13] Secondary education is made up of two cycles, theGeneral Certificate of Education, or Ordinary Level, for four years and theGeneral Certificate of Education Advanced Level, or Advanced Level, for two years.[13] This structure was adopted from theBritish system of education.[45]
Students take classes in Mathematics, English, Science, Shona or Ndebele,Geography, andHistory. The Ordinary Level Certificate Examination is taken after four years in Form 4 and expects students to pass a minimum of five subjects including Science, English, Mathematics, History and a practical subject like woodwork or agriculture.[46] This examination is ranked on a letter scale and can determine student achievement, selection for "A-Level" schools and employment status.[13][46]
Students have the option to enroll in A-Level secondary education or can attend teacher training, technical, agricultural, polytechnic and nursing colleges. If a student chooses to enroll in A-Level education, they must take the Advanced Level Certificate Examination after a total of six years of secondary education administered by theZimbabwe Schools Examination Council orCambridge Assessment International Education.[46][47] The "A-Level" examination is required for entry touniversities in Zimbabwe.[45]
Thetertiary sector of education is operated by theMinistry of Higher and Tertiary Education which includesuniversities,technical,polytechnic andteacher training colleges and variousvocational training centers. Tertiary education was first introduced to Zimbabwe in 1957 by theUniversity College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now known as theUniversity of Zimbabwe. The nation's independency in 1980 expanded the University of Zimbabwe's enrollment from 2,240 to 9,017 by 1990. TheNational Council for Higher Education was established in 1990 as a measure of quality insurance of higher education in Zimbabwe.[48] Increasing access to education in recent decades has increased the number of higher level institutions in the country. For example, eight more universities were established between 1999 and 2005. The Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) was formed in 2006 as another measure to guarantee quality and accreditation for university education. As of 2012, there were fifteen registered universities (nine public and five private), fifteen teachers' colleges, eight polytechnics and two industrial training colleges.[48]
Despite the initiative during independence to rapidly expand education opportunities, the demand for education was still greater than the supply. Education quality was hindered by teacher shortages, infrastructural pressure and the2008 financial crisis.[7] UNICEF claims that only a third of schools are considered to be in "good condition."[7] Schools also face capacity challenges, including double session schooling, or "hot seating," and overcrowded classrooms.[citation needed] "Hot seating" means that half of students attend school in the morning and the second half attends school in the afternoon.[citation needed] These methods enable more students to attend school, but quality declines because students are given less attention and time to learn.[citation needed]
Quality of education is also impacted by the lack of trained teachers in secondary schools. A majority ofteaching colleges in Zimbabwe are for primary education training, leaving less opportunity to meet the demand of trained secondary school teachers.[49] Teacher shortages surge is rural areas more than urban areas due to unfavorableworking conditions and low compensation.[50] Many teachers in rural areas lack training due to the high demand for labor and less concern for quality.[50][51] Not only are teachers under compensated, but teaching materials are also allocated less than one percent of the federal budget for education.[49]
Zimbabwe's education reform in 1980 aspired to provide free and universal education to all children through the Zimbabwe Education Act; however, tuition fees and education costs have accumulated over time.[52] Many families pay fortuition, even if it is a small fee at public government schools.[41] Families that do not pay for tuition due to education subsidies are still required to pay additional fees including building fees, transportation costs, exam fees,uniforms and stationery for their children.[14] Education is not completely free in Zimbabwe due to historical government expenditures focusing on infrastructure for education.[14] Programs like the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) have developed to preventorphans and vulnerable children from dropping out of primary school due to the expenses. BEAM pays for tuition and other basic fees, but only serves less than half of the target population.[43] As of 2014, only 10 percent of pupils ages 15 to 24 have not completed primary education which can be attributed to thecost of education.[33]
It is estimated that over 300,000 school-aged children in Zimbabwe have adisability.[38] There is a current push for inclusionary schools in order to provide quality education for students withphysical andmental disabilities.[38] Inclusionary schools involve "identification and minimization or elimination of barriers to students’ participation in traditional settings (i.e., schools, homes, communities, and workplaces) and the maximization of resources to support learning and participation."[38]Nondiscriminatory laws, including the Education Act of 1996 and the Disabled Persons Act of 1996, neither catalyze inclusive education for schools in Zimbabwe nor protect students experiencing disability fromdiscrimination in high school.[36][53]
Most schools perform "unplanned orde facto inclusion" by keeping students with disabilities in classrooms with all other students and teaching them the same curriculum without documentation of their specific disability.[38] Teachers and schools are not equipped toeducate and account for students with disabilities; therefore, most drop out by third grade.[38] Schools are finding alternative ways of performing inclusionary education on an individual basis, but there is still a lack of standardization and quality, especially for rural schools.[38] Researcher Regis Chireshe claims inclusionary education needs legislative and policy support, more quality inclusionary education training for teachers and inclusionary education campaigns to improve thestigma associated with people experiencing disabilities.[53] The government has recently expanded the Schools Psychological Services and Special Needs Education Division to better serve students experiencing disabilities in school.[42]
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Although education is accepted as a fundamental right by theconstitution,gender disparities in education still exist. Gender differences are less predominant in primary education than they are in secondary education.[27] TheUnited Nations Zimbabwe claims in 2009, 85 percent of females, compared to 80 percent of males, completed primary school.[43] As of 2010, 48.8 percent of females achieved secondary education or higher, while 62 percent of males achieved secondary education or higher.[54]
Females are increasingly more likely to drop out than their male peers in secondary school due toearly marriages, cost of continuing education andgender-based violence in secondary schools.[27] Females are considered a source of income throughmarriage and families are more likely to educate their sons to increase their earning potential. A lack of education for females correlates with developmental risks includingadolescent pregnancy,HIV and AIDs, poor health andpoverty.[54] In times of economic hardship, resources for education are allocated to males more than females due to labor roles,social values and gender expectations.[19] However, reports from theUN Children's Fund claim that Zimbabwe'sgender gap in education is smaller than many otherAfrican countries.[54]
Textbooks are a method to analyzinggender relations and roles in Zimbabwe's curriculum based on the research of Gudhlanga et al.[55] Gudhlanga et al. claims that gender stereotyping is prevalent in textbooks as males are used to describescientific or technical fields,leadership positions and jobs rather than females.[55] The study by Gudhlanga et al. found that active and productive roles are more commonly held by males in textbooks, while female roles in textbooks are passive and dependent. In addition, the study found that English language textbooks are written from male perspectives and leave out important female leaders and perspectives in history.[55]
Thousands of Zimbabweanteachers have gone onstrikes, joinedteacher unions and left the profession in recent years over low salaries, poor working conditions, political victimization andviolence.[50][56]Teacher unions including the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe organize strikes to catalyze salary negotiations and better working conditions. In the first decade of the 21st century, 45,000 out of 100,000 teachers in the country left the profession.[57][18]
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Marked by a time period ofhyperinflation, teachers were one of the lowest paid professions in the 2000s, receiving the equivalence of $10US dollars for every three months of teaching. Their salaries in 2009 were as low as one US dollar for every month of teaching with grocery vouchers worth $100 USD per month.[11][58] Thousands of teachers protested, left public education andmigrated to other countries in response to the2008 financial crisis.[14] During a year-long strike from 2008 to 2009, teachers demanded higher salaries paid ininternational currency.[59] This strike led to nearly 94 percent of all rural schools closing and school attendance rates fell from 80 percent to 20 percent.[59]
Many teachers joined the informal economy, orblack sector, during the2008 financial crisis. They participated in cross-border trading withBotswana andSouth Africa becausecivil servants were not required to havevisas at the time.[11] Teachers would use their off time during the year to hoard goods from other country and resell them in Zimbabwe to earn a livable living that their teaching salaries did not satisfy.[11]
In 2009, the national economy stabilized because of the actions taken by the newly establishedGovernment of National Unity (GNU). The GNU enacted thedollarization of the national economy which curved the effects ofhyperinflation and theinformal economy.[18] The GNU also allocated every civil servant, including teachers, the equivalent of $100 US dollars.[11] Teachers were encouraged to reenter the profession and move back to Zimbabwe, but thousands never returned and found higher paying positions elsewhere.[22]
Today, theUnited Nations of Zimbabwe claims that thousands of teachers are unmotivated due to low salaries, limited resources, pressure, political harassment and the shortage of teachers.[7] Researchers Regis Chireshe and Almon Shumba assert that teachers believe theirteacher training did not prepare them for the classroom or to teachspecial education. The researchers also believe that teachers will continue to threaten or actuallystrike in the future unless their needs are better addressed by the government.[56]
In 2009, the Educational Transition Fund (ETF) was launched to improve the quality of education by distributing education materials.[60] The ETF partnered withUNICEF and encouraged private donations. Accumulation and distribution of textbooks has been the focus of ETF in recent years. In 2008, The National Education Advisory Board states that 20 percent of students did not havetextbooks for core subjects and the student to textbook ratio was 10:1.[61] Thousands of textbooks have beendonated in the past few years along with additional learning materials.UNICEF currently reports that the student to textbook ratio is now 1:1 because ofinternational aid from the ETF.[62]
2017 AND THE NEW CURRICULUMDr Lazarus Dokora, the current Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, has overseen the implementation of a new curriculum which is designed to create a new student totally different from the pre2017 students. This curriculum is focused more on raising heritage awareness and creating employers rather than employees. However, the success of this move is hovering on dark waters because of the present melting economy. It has been affected by intense resource shortage in terms of books and IT.