Beitbridge schools cry out for help

By Thupeyo Muleya At the age of 19, Joel Kondo could neither read nor write, let alone spell his name correctly at the first attempt, a development that always left him embarrassed each time he was in the company of his peers. His father worked as a gardener for one white man, Mr Carl Bridges in Bulawayo and earned very little to provide for his family. All his five children had dropped out of school after Grade Three, which left them essentially illiterate. This was during the colonial era and most black children failed to get a decent education to allow them to be conversant literally. The system could not just allow that. But the advent of independence brought a new dimension to both the social and economic realities of free Zimbabweans. The Government adopted a free education for all system and built more primary and secondary school across the country, especially in those areas which had been marginalised during the colonial era with a view of creating a productive and literate nation. And this was the most-welcome development to the likes of Joel who returned to school regardless of his age. He was not alone in his jubilation as many people, even some that had been to the war front also returned to the classroom and started education in earnest. This period produced students who were very mature and had previously been watching from the sidelines as their counterparts from the "privileged" class went through their educational structures. Everything seemed to be going on very well. However, a few years down the line, with the economy gradually collapsing under a host of challenges, the education sector bore the brunt and most of these special services died a natural death in the process. A recent survey around most schools in Beitbridge District painted a gloomy picture in which the majority of the education facilities are literally in intensive care. In fact, many of the buildings which were constructed long before the country gained its independence are ticking time bombs as they can just collapse or crumble on top of students anytime. There are 55 primary and 13 secondary schools in Beitbridge district. At one school, children are attending classes under trees while some of them have to sit on floors. Furthermore, there are no adequate ablution facilities and even teachers’ accommodation. There is also a glaring shortage of the latest syllabuses for most subjects, a development that has seen some teachers relying on textbooks for lessons while there is also an acute water shortage among the host of woes. It has also emerged that unqualified teachers are manning most of the schools in the wake of the brain drain that came with the economic meltdown. The hardest hit schools are those situated in the remote areas from the border town such as Chikwalakwala, Chaswingo, Tshapfuche, Old Mutshutshuta, Limpopo, Hunga, Muthangamtshana, Lesanth, Joko, Madaulo, Penemene, Makombe and Swereki. One of the primary schools in intensive care is Chaswingo, some 65 kilometres east of Beitbridge under chief Matibe where the authorities have since appealed for funds to buy furniture for the school, which has virtually nothing. Kids sit on animal skin mats and bricks in the absence of real furniture at a school that has an enrolment of 629 pupils. Doors at the school are extensively damaged because of wear and tear since the school was established in 1978. There are three classroom blocks and 17 teachers. The classrooms’ floors have also not been spared and teachers have to make use of bricks in place of the damaged benches and tables. A teacher at the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the situation was a cause for concern and needed urgent intervention from well wishers. He said the situation was worse especially in winter when children have to sit on the floors during cold temperatures. He added that they were making efforts through the traditional leadership to raise funds to buy furniture for the school. The school head, Mr Godfrey Nyoni confirmed that the situation was terrible adding that it was killing both the teachers and pupils’ motivation. Last year, Beitbridge recorded pass rates of 32 percent for grades 7, 17 percent for ‘O’ Level and 74 percent for ‘A’ Level students. Chaswingo ward 3 councillor, Clara Zvenyika said they were in the midst of mobilising resources to buy furniture and stationery for the school. They were making frantic efforts to get the school electrified and mobilising villagers to repair some of the broken down equipment at the school. "We are aware of the problems at the school and we are making efforts as parents in conjunction with other stakeholders to address the plight of the children. "However, we still appeal to Government and other well-wishers to donate towards capacitating the school," said Zvenyika. Matabeleland South provincial education director, Mrs Tumisang Thabela said the situation in Beitbridge was a cause for concern. "We are really worried with the status quo in Beitbridge District and this has also been a demoralising factor to both the teachers and children. "However, as Government we are doing everything possible to get things back to normal. I want to urge all the stakeholders including school heads, school development committees and former students associations to join hands and help bring confidence in the education sector," she said. Additionally, she explained that in most schools in the district the child to textbook ratio stood at 1:35, a situation that must be urgently addressed to nurture a creative and innovative society, which is also able to give back to the community. "For instance, we have a number of luminaries and politicians who came from these schools but they haven’t done enough to help the future generation. "If you go to other provinces they have school development committees, branches in the Diaspora and they have been working with school authorities to breathe life into the education system. With that in mind, as education authorities here, we want to create a conducive working environment for staff and those who would want to assist us," she said. Mrs Thabela bemoaned the poor pass and retention rates of children from primary to secondary schools. She said in most cases this was caused by negligence on the part of both the students and parents or lack of financial resources to proceed to the next level. They had witnessed a very worrying retention rate of 68 percent for children proceeding from primary to secondary education between 2008 and 2009. The educationist appealed to the business community in the area to help in procuring furniture, textbooks and renovating some of the schools. "We are working on measures to save our education which is faced with a number of challenges, some of which include the production of 4 500 syllabi this year out of the required 10 000 in the province. We are in the midst of courting other partners apart from the Government to help reduce the child text book ratio to one is to 12," said Mrs Thabela. Incidentally, there are two big mines in Beitbridge, several commercial farms, two transfrontier parks, a number of tycoons who can help uplift the face of the education sector in the province if they cared. The district, on the other hand, boasts of one of the busiest ports of entry in Sub-Saharan Africa where the Government draws most of its funds, but with all these resources, the education facilities remain in the doldrums. It is understood that 30 percent of Government revenue comes from Zimra and of that percentage 70 percent comes from Beitbridge Border Post. Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart recently called on Government to allocate more funds to the education sector in the national budget for resuscitation of the sector. Only time will tell if there is anyone willing to do something about the state of affairs in Beitbridge. published by, The Herald 19 July 2010