State schools in Zimbabwe have been ordered to slash their fees in a bid to stave off the collapse of the country’s education system, it was reported on Monday.
The move came after Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, admitted that the unity government he formed with his rival, President Robert Mugabe, was ”broke” and could not meet union demands for higher wages.
Zimbabwe’s Sunday Mail newspaper said David Coltart, the education minister, had recommended that state schools should cut their fees when they open for a new term on Tuesday because many parents could not afford them.
”I cannot divulge the figures at the moment because the recommendations are going to Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara on Monday,” he was quoted as saying. ”However, what we want are substantial cuts.”
The government set school fees in state schools at between $20 and $280 a term two months ago, but many parents have failed to pay, citing low wages and high living costs.
Coltart added: ”When the fees were set in March, the assumption was that we would get balance of payments support [to] kickstart the economy. But this has not materialised and parents are worse off than before.”
Symptom of steep decline
The malaise in Zimbabwe’s education system, once the envy of Africa, is a telling measure of the country’s steep decline. In the early years of independence under Mugabe, who began his career as a teacher, 96% of children attended school.
Mugabe has since presided over an exodus of tens of thousands of teachers, which has left many schools shut and fears that a generation will grow up without education. Zimbabwe was criticised last week by Amnesty International for failing to protect teachers from harassment and beatings during last year’s elections.
The country’s top university in Harare has been closed for nearly a year, with broken toilets and no piped water. The state media reported yesterday that only 68 students out of 12 000 had paid their full fees of about $300 when the college tried to reopen in March, and it was now appealing for foreign assistance.
Zimbabwe said last week that it had secured $400-million in credit lines from African states to revive some of its ailing industries, many of which are operating at below 20% of their capacity.
Trade unions have called for a monthly minimum wage of $450 and threatened to go on strike if their demands are not met.
But Tsvangirai told a May Day rally in Harare that no state worker, including Mugabe, was earning more than $100 a month. ”This government is broke, and we are only able to pay the $100 allowance,” he said, adding that this would ”graduate into a proper salary” when the situation improved and more people were paying tax.
”We have been in office for less than three months. I plead with you to please give us time.”
Unemployment is estimated at 90%, while numerous hospitals are closed and roads and sewers have fallen into disrepair. Zimbabwe has asked for billions of dollars to rescue the economy, but western countries have demanded broad reforms before restoring aid.
There is an increasing belief among analysts that the unity government appears to be stalling, with Mugabe still holding the whip hand.
They cite as evidence his continued detention of political activists, renewed farm invasions and the seizure of the department of communications from Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change. — Guardian News and Media 2009