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Sydney Kawadza Senior Features Writer
In one of his famous quotable quotes, the late Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere said: “Education is not a way to escape poverty; it is a way of fighting it.” And true to the quote, Zimbabweans have caught the bug to help Government maintain its high standard in education. Three events in the past two weeks make Mwalimu Nyerere’s words come true, that is, if Zimbabweans take up the challenge to improve and maintain the standards.

Government’s Zim-Asset policy document calls for increased literacy levels under the Social Services and Poverty Eradication Cluster.

In the cluster matrix, Zimbabwe has already attained between 92 percent to 95 percent literacy levels.

The Zim-Asset policy document states that there is need to improve the quality and increase access to education and training at all levels.

It further seeks to achieve improved critical skills deployment while improving the supply of relevant skills to meet national demands.

This dovetails into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 Quality Education.

The goal seeks to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

The UN further notes: “First, the bad news on education. Poverty, armed conflicts and other emergencies keep many kids around the world out of school.

“In fact, in developing regions, kids from the poorest households are four times more likely to be out of school than those of the richest households.”

The good news, however, according to the UN, since 2000, there has been enormous progress on the goal to provide primary education to all children worldwide.

“The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 percent. By measures in any school, that’s a good grade,” the UN says.

The SDG, however, seeks to get an even better grade for all children and achieve the goal of universal primary and secondary education, affordable vocational training, access to higher education and more.

The Zimbabwe Government has, in difficult circumstances, strived to realise these goals.

And in support of Government efforts, the three incidents noted above, involved Zimbabwean top musician Jah Prayzah retracing his roots to Musanhi Secondary School in Uzumba, Mashonaland East, where he has pledged to build a classroom block at his former school.

Secondly, in the same province, Mutoko East constituency MP Cde Mawere Mubvumbi launched the Yeukai Foundation, which seeks to mobilise resources to assist vulnerable, disadvantaged and orphaned children to have an education.

There are 30 children currently benefiting from the foundation.

Thirdly, in Kadoma, Mashonaland West province, one of the region’s upcoming businessman Mr Cosmas Daka is assisting 10 schools in the city with stationary.

He is also paying fees for 10 children at Waverly Primary School where he is a former student.

The move would do well in complementing Government especially during the introduction of the new curriculum.

Waverly Primary School head Mrs Juliet Mushayandebvu applauded Mr Daka’s for retracing his roots and promoting education growth in the city.

She was addressing parents, school children and the political leadership in the city during a hand-over ceremony early this week.

Mrs Mushayandebvu said schools had an updated curriculum that builds and encourages innovation among pupils.

She said the new curriculum would succeed with the assistance of community leaders.

“This will ensure that upon graduation, our children will not wait to become employees but create jobs for themselves and others.

“Today we have a former Waverly Primary School pupil. We now know him as Cossy Rules, many can attest that he rules surely.

“Right now he sponsors 10 pupils with school fees. What makes the gesture more powerful is that he is our former student and we watched him grow into what he is.”

She said efforts by Mr Daka should be a lesson to pupils around Zimbabwe.

“We have a lot of people who forget their roots especially when the money starts coming in,” she said.

Mr Daka said the current economic challenges entail that schools source resources from all available corners.

“We have to support Government efforts to build an education system that is a pride to future generations.

“My wish is that these children who are watching should continue to do more for their school,” he said.

The Kadoma business man said Government had done its part in developing an education system that is commended across the world.

“We are hoping that more and more businesspeople will work with their former schools to develop this system while the pupils learn to give back to their communities,” he said.

In Mashonaland East, Mutoko East Junior MP, Tinotenda Beverly Musasiwa noted that the district was not benefiting much from its natural resources.

“If we look at issues to do with corporate social responsibility, that statement is not known in Mutoko despite the fact that we are endowed with black granite,” she said.

The Junior MP said children in the district should know that they can benefit from the natural resources in the district.

“I would like to urge companies mining the black granite to contribute to such a foundation,” she said.

Musasiwa said businesses in the district should come up with scholarships for the disadvantaged children.

Cde Mawere, however, stated that the unavailability of resources should not derail efforts to ensure that children get an education for a brighter future.

“Government is struggling to distribute resources to the people but we have to find ways to make sure that we support the disadvantaged children in our communities,” he said.

The legislator expressed hope that the business community would supplement his initiative.

“Education and its growth are every Zimbabwean’s responsibility as it widens the children’s choices in the future,” he said.

Efforts by these individuals go a long way in boosting Government’s determination to maintain the standards that have been a marvel the world over. Primary and Secondary Education Deputy Minister Professor Paul Mavhima said during the commissioning of the Yeukai Foundation, Government would continue working on maintaining the high education standards attained since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980.

Government reserves 25 percent of its annual budget for basic primary and secondary education.

Professor Mavhima said his department introduced a curriculum review in the education system.

“In contributing to the economic development of Zimbabwe, we (education sector) have decided to improve the education system to include other skills that produce complete graduates.

Professor Mavhima hailed individual efforts to assist Government in improving the education sector.

“The curriculum complemented by organisations like Yeukai Foundation would play an instrumental role in bringing about the country’s socio-economic transformation.

“The education system of Zimbabwe, as part of the human capital development strategy priority, responded to the needs of the Zim-Asset – Social Services and Poverty Eradication Cluster.”

Professor Mavhima said the curriculum review needed collaborative effort in planning and implementation, hence the paradigm shift in curriculum review to generate ideas from a broad spectrum of society and to achieve national consensus.

Government is reviewing the curriculum from Early Childhood Development (ECD) to secondary level.

The Curriculum Review is an integral component of Government’s strategy to produce graduates who respond to the needs of the environment and are fit for the purpose.

Through the new curriculum, Government intends to provide holistic education for all learners and to develop the whole child socially, physically, intellectually, creatively and emotionally.

The old syllabus had, in the era of accelerated technological and social transformation, become increasingly irrelevant as it was based on abstract, fact-centred and de-contextualised knowledge. Given the complexities of today’s ever-changing world, contemporary approaches to curriculum development far exceed the traditional understanding of curriculum as merely plans of study or list of prescribed content.

“Issues related to quality education, equity, gender, inclusivity and respect for life and property are factors that influenced this updated curriculum we are currently implementing.”

The curriculum also includes life-skills orientation programmes meant to create synergies between schools, communities and enterprises while encompassing relationships between learners and their community.

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