Unlike the 1970s when children came from South Africa, Zambia and Malawi for better education, more and more Zimbabwean parents now look across the Limpopo for schools which seem to promise a brighter educational future for their children.
Thokhzani Ncube (37) from Emganwini in Bulawayo says her three children are now going to stay with her sister at Hobhouse in the South African Free State province where they are going to continue with their primary education.
“Although I miss my children, I am pleased they managed to secure admission to a school in South Africa because I was worried about their future in Zimbabwe,” she said.
“The previous school they were attending here is did not do well last term. They attended lessons for eight weeks only, teachers were not attending school, this affected them so much and I thought this year things should be different,” she said.
Ncube is not the only parent sending her children to the neighboring country, as hundreds of other parents are sending both documented and undocumented children across the border by Omalayisthsa (official couriers). A snap survey at the Beitbridge border post reveled that hundreds of school going children were entering South Africa despite the fact that schools were opening in less than five days in Zimbabwe.
“I cannot afford the outrageous demands the schools are making, they want books stationery, and tissue paper soap school fees in cash, the amounts are just too high and inflated. To make matters worse we are not sure whether they are going to attend lessons as the teachers are always threatening to go on strike,” said Ncube.
Already government has warned of a sharp school fee increase as it already has asked for applications for fee increases.
A senior official in the ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Peter Muzavazi, said school should justify the increase, but some schools had already started implementing the unapproved new school fee structure.
This has already triggered an exodus of children from some schools.
Although the government has assured parents that the school term will start on a normal schedule, the economic meltdown coupled with drought and a general low morale amongst the teachers. Political analysts have predicted a gloomy term.
Unconfirmed reports from Teachers’ Associations say there is likely to be a general strike after two weeks of opening schools, as the schools can no longer afford to operate without resources. The government maintained that there would be no school fees increases, but some schools have trebled their fess and setting stringent entry conditions for new comers leaving most parents with no choice but to send their children to neighboring South Africa for better education.
In the early 1980 and 1990s, Zimbabwe prided itself for a higher literacy rate of about 90 percent the highest then in Africa, but the percentage has been going down due to a number of factors that include incapacitation of schools, low morale amongst the teachers, poor educational infrastructure and red tape within the ministry responsible for education.
A snap survey at most primary schools in Bulawayo painted a gloomy picture over the state of affairs as most schools feared that they might have lost a considerable number of children who are either going to relocate to rural areas or go to neighboring countries.
“We are not sure what is going to happen when we open, the situation has been reversing over the years. We used to register children coming from South Africa but this time it is different, we are losing our children and something should be done to harness this mass exodus. Government should ensure that we are fully capacitated to run our schools,” said a teacher at Mhali primary school in Magwegwe.
Prices of school stationery have skyrocketed, with parents now opting to buy books and other related equipment from South Africa and Botswana.
Educators have also blamed government for allowing a free for all state of affairs in the country where some institutions of learning and retail shops were allowed to increase prices at will, while some schools were not allowed to charge sustainable fees that would enable them to function normally.
Political commentators say the only solution for Zimbabwe to pull itself out of this economic malaise was through political dialogue between the ruling party and the MDC Alliance.
“Wheels have come off in almost every sector, education and health have suffered the most, children no longer go to school, hospitals have no medical equipment and medicines, and yet government still promises people that everything is going to be alright,”said Thomas Moyo a political commentator from Bulawayo.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has also been gallivanting calling for the removal of targeted sanctions by the west which he said was hurting the economy and affecting his people.
The western countries however set conditions and gave him a raft of measures and reforms that Harare should implement in exchange for engagement and financial bailout.
Among some reforms are economic, political, human rights and good governance.
However of concern to the western countries has been the snail pace at which these reforms have been taking place, casting doubts on whether the country was committed to help its poverty weary citizenry or not.
Source: Byo24