The education system of Zimbabwe was named the best in Africa, but now it is declining because of cut in salaries, disappointing attendance records of both teachers and students, and transport and food problems. And it is why the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is planning important action to discuss it.
Representative Roeland Monasch states that students are losing a year of education due to several factors: two-month teachers’ strike, temporary learning materials, political violence and displacement. Others include rising school fees, and low morale owing to inadequate salaries that have led to major problems. “The depletion of teachers in schools”, he said, “transport and food problems faced by the remaining teachers and lack of resources have left the sector tottering on the brink of collapse.”
The agency released a news release of this “current education crisis”, and also said that they’re willing to help Zimbabwe’s government improve it. For the past couple of years, UNICEF have donated a dozen million dollars for education that includes creating and furnishing classrooms, provision of textbooks to primary schools, teacher training and developing sanitation facilities in rural schools. The agency also paid school fees for 150,000 orphaned and vulnerable children.
“Education remains the engine to drive Zimbabwe’s long-term prospects” according to Monasch. “It is critical that the sector is not left to collapse, enduring solution on salaries, food and working conditions should be reached soon, the monitoring visits, should be beefed up, the situation in schools require urgent action. Zimbabwe’s children are already suffering on multiple fronts, denying them an education to better their prospects is unavailable.”
