Defunct educational system
Three kindergarten kids
With pocket money
More than the teacher’s three month salary
Tease their sleeping teacher.
“Come on teacher,
Teach us some grammar and arithmetic
And we will give you
Bits of pocket our money
Then maybe you won’t always
Be so miserable.”
The teacher purrs softly
Unoffended by their noisy teasing
And when they persist
He raises his head and says
“Go teach your fathers
To change the government.”
By Lawrence Hoba
Breaking the kombi rules my teacher taught me
Although I went to a ghetto primary school, my teachers strived so hard to teach us what rich kids were being taught at uptown schools formerly known as Group A schools. Somehow they succeeded- in me at least- because I am so different from other people I learnt with. I am in college, am a freelance writer, just finished on my first book and speak with a ‘civilised’ uptown accent. Since I had turned out to be what every teacher wishes of their students, I actually believed that I had turned out all the ghetto genes in me although I still stay in the ghetto. How wrong I was.
I came to face this cold fact after a six month break from public taxis commonly referred as kombis, when I finally hitch-hiked one for the murderous Bulawayo-Harare distance. My teachers had more than thrice given us the five commandments of travelling in a kombi; Read more
Student life
The sun sets so beautifully into the horizon. The ordinary person marvels at the wonder of the glory of God, yet to the student who is at a university that is about to close its doors, who slept on an empty stomach yesterday, the setting of the sun does not signify anything. All he askes is a simple innocent question, ‘Is God mverled at my pain?’
This year I am certainly praising God for making me able to pay US$2500 for my college tuition which with current situation that our country is in is a fortune. As I praise God I know there is someone who is cursing the blessing of the burning syndrome that made his poor parents afford to send him to one of Zimbabwe’s most expensive universities. Why shouldn’t he, when his school fees drained everything from their coofers that all they could manage to give their son for school was a little forex which today seems to be also affected by the sporadic runaway inflation that has brougth our country down? Read more
Zimbabwe’s education system endangers students
It’s official: Zimbabwe’s educational system is now in the morgue. The state of our education system is clear testimony to how self-destructive Zimbabwe has become. In a word, Zimbabwe is structurally deficient and in a desperate need for repair and construction.
The idea that we have a generation of young people who are receiving a half-baked education is at best, preposterous, and at worst, downright mindlessly stupid.
The failure of the education sector, like many other sectors in Zimbabwe, is a mere revelation that our country is going down the tubes. And in the process, we’ve become like an alcoholic bent on hanging onto to self-suicidal behaviour.
The picture is grim, to say the least. Teachers have abandoned schools. There are no books in schools. Infrastructure is delapidated, and in the erstwhile so-called elite schools such as Prince Edward etc. standards are going to the dogs. Read more
Ploughing back in our former schools
Many of our former primary and secondary schools, which were once vibrant and high-flying have gone into a great decline and have experienced extreme dilapidation. Visiting one’s former school, one is sure to get a rude shock and awakening by the sheer deterioration.
This makes one think of the importance of giving back to our former schools which actually provided our foundation as we were nurtured in our early academic lives. It was this foundation laid upon which we now have the sound knowledge that we have acquired as adults. I think it would be a noble thing to help our former primary and secondary schools in any way that we can, being in cash or in kind. Read more
Some solutions for health and education in Zimbabwe
Practical ways to Help Zimbabwe- Education and Health, just for now!
EDUCATION:
Problem: there is a severe shortage of teachers in schools as many are leaving for the informal sector due to poor salaries. My nephews in Form 3 at a boarding school outside Bulawayo are supposed to be taking 9 classes, but only have 4 teachers out of 9 teachers needed for the classes showed up this semester- 5 classes are without teachers. Furthermore, there is a great shortage of books.
Current efforts: We have established links with book publishers in Zimbabwe to print copies of the books used in the local examinations. On average a book costs no more than US$20 if we buy in bulk for many schools. We are raising money to pay for student tuition fees, but it is not enough to only support students. Our partner foundation in the US already sends books to Zimbabwe about twice a year to a group of 75 schools. Read more
