Education in Zimbabwe - A Quiet Implosion

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 HARARE 000988 AF/S FOR B. WALCH INR FOR T. CHOJNACKI DRL FOR N. WILETT ECA FOR T. FARRELL ECA/A/S/A FOR D. YOUNG AF/PD FOR C. ANYANSO IIP FOR B. WHARTON ACCRA FOR KETEKU ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS GABARONE FOR H. MERRITT NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B.PITTMAN TREASURY FOR D.PETERS AND T.RAND STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND E.LOKEN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL SCUL SMIG ELAB KPAO ZI SUBJECT: Education in Zimbabwe - A Quiet Implosion ¶1. SUMMARY: In the wake of ongoing inter-party talks, much attention has been paid to immediate crises such as the collapse of the health care system and starvation facing the rural population. Equally devastating, however, is the precipitous decline of all levels of the country's education sector, diminishing the availability of human capital necessary for post-transition rebuilding and development. In 2008, Zimbabwe's education sector witnessed a devastating and continued erosion of its teaching force, multiple teacher and faculty strikes, suspension of national exams, inflationary increases in school fees, and the postponement of the current university semester. These factors led to an unprecedented call by both teachers' unions for the cancellation of the academic year. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- Background: From Continental Leader to Desperation -------------- -------------- ¶2. Zimbabwe's educational system has been the backbone of the nation, its source of international pride and most important commodity. Boasting the highest literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa until four years ago, over 96 percent, Zimbabwe inherited and built on the carefully constructed Rhodesian apartheid educational system which included white "Group A", missionary "Group B" and largely vocational black "Group C" schools. Mugabe's inaugural administration in the early 80s invested heavily in schools, rapidly trained a teaching corps and paid teachers at a level where they served as community leaders. Zimbabwe largely adopted British-style education, adding African content post-independence, but retaining University of Cambridge international examinations until five years ago when it abruptly localized all examinations and called for a "patriotic" re-examination of the curriculum. English has always been the medium of instruction, resulting in a professional population highly literate in English. ¶3. The Zimbabwean government (GOZ) dedicated over 25 percent of its budget to education through the 1980s, the third highest in the world at the time. This declined to 22 percent by 1991 and only 13 percent by 2006. In 1991, the GOZ spent USD 6 per student. Current estimates show that figure has dropped to just USD 18 cents. Valuing education, families traditionally spent a large percentage of their assets and income to send their children to the best possible schools. ¶4. Despite financial challenges, Zimbabwe continues to send a large number of students to study in the U.S. relative to its population. The high caliber of the country's human capital has been both its blessing and its curse, fueling brain drain as Zimbabwean professionals remain highly desirable globally. New Zealand has actively recruited Zimbabwean doctors, the UK Zimbabwean nurses, and Australia and South Africa Zimbabwean engineers, accountants, bankers, and business managers at rates that surpass any other African country. -------------- The Teaching Force -------------- ¶5. Whereas Zimbabwe requires approximately 150,000 teachers to staff its primary and secondary schools, current estimates are that the Ministry of Education is employing only 75,000 teachers. According to the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ),a mere 40,000 HARARE 00000988 002 OF 005 have suggested minimal teacher training qualifications. The majority of Zimbabwe's teaching force has migrated to Botswana and South Africa; as civil servants, they do not require visas to enter either country. Some, especially math and science teachers, have received work permits and jobs as teachers; others are working illegally or as cross-border traders. HIV/AIDS has also contributed to the devastation of Zimbabwe's teaching force. ¶6. Many teachers currently do not earn enough to pay for the cost of public transportation to reach their schools at the beginning of term if they are assigned to rural schools or for the daily commute if they are based in cities. Both PTUZ and its rival, the Zimbabwe Teachers' Union (ZIMTA),have repeatedly held strikes to demand better pay. Many teachers have resorted to teaching part time and either providing private tutorials, buying and selling goods or starting other small, informal businesses to sustain themselves. The PTUZ estimates that in 2008 the average Zimbabwean student at a government school received 5-10 percent of the normal teaching hours because of teacher strikes and migration. Many schools' Parent-Teacher Associations have tried a variety of fundraising schemes to supplement teacher salaries with donations of food, money, fuel and other commodities, but government has outlawed such contributions. ¶7. The system was also strained in 2008 when the GOZ paid a large number of teachers to stop teaching and serve as election monitors during the March elections. After ZANU-PF lost the March presidential election, ZANU-PF militias terrorized rural teachers, whom they blamed in part for the election result. Several headmasters in rural areas were murdered and numerous teachers were attacked, abducted and arrested. Consequently, many teachers declined to continue teaching. Many young people no longer aspire to become teachers, given their reduced economic and social status. ¶8. In a rare show of cooperation, the two rival national teachers' unions - ZIMTA and PTUZ - held a joint press conference on October 7 to commemorate World Teacher's Day at which they called for the cancellation of the 2008 academic year. They stated that repeated teacher strikes, caused by unsustainably low salaries for teachers, as well as skyrocketing school fees and deteriorating infrastructure at government and mission schools, meant that the vast majority of Zimbabwean students did not receive a full year of learning and were not ready to progress to the next year. They proposed that all students repeat grades in 2009. The two unions pressed for immediate attention to the education crisis, for livable wages to retain the teachers who have not yet fled, and for increased expenditure in the sector. -------------- Infrastructure and Quality -------------- ¶9. One of the greatest triumphs of the first decade of independence was the development of an unprecedented number of primary and secondary schools throughout the country. However, without resources to develop, let alone maintain this investment, schools have deteriorated at an alarming rate. Many schools currently lack safe and reliable water, electricity or libraries. In rural and high-density schools, average class size has doubled in the past few years from 25-30 to 50-60. As many as five students may share a single copy of a textbook in a high-density school and in some rural HARARE 00000988 003 OF 005 schools, only the teacher has a copy of the text. Whereas government schools traditionally provided students with notebooks and texts, it is now the responsibility of students and their families to provide all stationery and supplies. ¶10. The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) operates national exams at three grades - Grade 7 exams, which are used for placement into secondary schools; Ordinary "O" Level exams after four years of secondary school education, used for entrance into teaching, nursing and polytechnic colleges, and Advanced "A" Level exams after an additional two years of high school, for entrance into universities. National exams are normally offered twice a year in June and October/November with results available two months later. ZIMSEC has yet to release any results for exams written in June 2008, and has yet to schedule any O or A level exams for October or November. Grade 7 exams, which should have been written over two weeks in early October, are now being written in one week starting October 27. ¶11. Minister of Education Chigwedere has repeatedly stated that all exams are on schedule, and the GOZ has set up a special crisis post to ensure exams do occur. However, despite these GOZ assurances, school officials have yet to receive exam information. ZIMSEC has stated that the June results are not available because they do not have the resources to mark the exams, nor to record and distribute the results. In the past two years, there have been significant levels of exam result irregularity, ranging from schools receiving results for subjects their students have not written, to others not receiving results for exams they did write, and others receiving questionable results wildly inconsistent with their school performance. In the past three years, pass rates for O and A level exams, most notably for mathematics and English, have plummeted to the lowest levels since exams were localized. PTUZ reports that O level exam pass rates were over 70 percent in the mid-1990s; last year only 11 percent passed. Without national exams, Zimbabwean students cannot move to the next level of education. The morale of students who expected to write national exams in 2008 is low, with many contemplating dropping out of school. ¶12. Zimbabwe officially mandates seven years of primary school. Primary schooling was free at government schools until 1991 when the World Bank's Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP) recommended that the GOZ begin charging school fees. Previously 95 percent of all children ages 6-16 attended school in Zimbabwe. Current estimates are that 20 percent of primary-aged children are not in school, and indicators point to a sharp decline in school attendance at all levels. ¶13. Whereas government school fees are arguably negligible, when coupled with individual school levies and the cost of school uniforms, stationary and books, they quickly become prohibitive for many Zimbabweans. As poverty deepens, many teenage girls cannot afford sanitary ware and many rural schools lack sanitary facilities, leading to monthly absenteeism and eventual drop out of girls in high schools. As students see that higher education and the resultant professional jobs do not necessarily translate into higher pay, many are trading high school for informal sector self-employment or cross-border trading. ¶14. Additionally, an estimated 1.6 million Zimbabwean children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, leaving them either in the care of grandparents or other relatives, on their own, or in the streets. As HARARE 00000988 004 OF 005 a result, the number of child laborers has increased exponentially as these children must help support their families and have no means to attend school. -------------- University Closures and Challenges -------------- ¶15. No state universities have opened for the first semester of their academic year, supposed to begin in late August. Neither faculty nor staff are coming to work, although not technically on strike. They say current salaries are not sufficient to pay for public transportation. At present, a senior lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) earns the equivalent of USD 5 per month. Although the UZ, the country's flagship university, has begun a small number of Master's programs this semester, the university has stated it will not open for undergraduates absent a steady supply of water, a living wage salary package for both faculty and staff and assurances of tuition increases to sustain the university. (NOTE: UZ now claims to be opening November 3, but previous opening dates have not been met. END NOTE.) ¶16. Students who completed their degree programs in May have yet to receive final grades, transcripts or diplomas. Those starting university, as well as continuing students, have registered only to be told that "lectures have been indefinitely postponed until a further date to be advised." Although UZ has closed before because of demonstrations and strikes, 2008 marks the first year since independence that the UZ School of Medicine has not begun on time. ¶17. Local universities have suffered from severe brain drain in 2008, losing a majority of qualified lecturers to universities in neighboring countries. Most departments are currently staffed by one or a handful of senior faculty members, who survive through outside consultancy or weekend teaching, and a bevy of recent graduates from their own undergraduate and master's programs. At the School of Medicine, students do not receive adequate hands-on training, and those that graduate are ill-prepared for the rigors of medical practice. According to the head of one department, pass rates for medical exams have plummeted in recent years, and medical students interact with patients at Parirenyatwa Hospital without sufficient training and oversight. -------------- Student Activism -------------- ¶18. Large scale repression of student activists continued in 2008. Leaders in the student movement, especially those in the Zimbabwe National Association of Student Unions (ZINASU) faced arrest, brutal attacks, and torture. In early October, over 200 students marched to Parliament to present a petition demanding redress to the education crisis, leading to the arrest of three students and hospitalization of over 20, including one student leader's miscarriage. UZ's decision to close student residences for 2008 and not offer any on-campus accommodation to students was largely viewed as a means of preventing increased student activism around the elections. Student Solidarity Trust (SST) documented over 359 cases of arrest, torture, abduction, and assault of university students between March and August 2008. -------------- HARARE 00000988 005 OF 005 The Role of Private Schools -------------- ¶19. Education in Zimbabwe is becoming increasingly stratified by wealth, and not based on merit. The exception to the general decline is the private primary and secondary schools belonging to the Association of Trust Schools (ATS) as well as the country's two private church-run universities. Private schools, now charging up to USD 1,500 a term for day scholars and USD 3,000 for boarders, use their resources to retain teachers, maintain their infrastructure and offer the high standard of education for which Zimbabwean schools used to be known. However, these schools only service about 2 percent of the nation's youth, including some students whose parents have fled for the diaspora. Methodist-run Africa University and Seventh Day Adventist Solusi University have managed to stay open throughout 2008 on their normal calendars with nearly full complements of teaching staff and expanded student bodies. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶20. Zimbabwe is in danger of losing an entire generation's education, setting back its recovery for decades. The effects of this lost generation could include continued unemployment, unmet expectations and devastating violent crime. If and when Zimbabwe enters a period of political transition and economic recovery, rebuilding the education system will be key to restoring its once laudable human capacity. Zimbabweans and the international community alike must devise strategic and innovative means of salvaging what is left of Zimbabwe's educational system and build upon it. END COMMENT. MCGEE