The Crisis
Over 67% of Zimbabwe’s school children do not have access to holistic, quality education that will ensure they can reach their full potential. The majority of Zimbabwean learners in both primary and secondary schools still receive a traditional rote education, not in line with the needs of a developing economy. Most of these learners live in marginalized rural areas, which lack basic infrastructure, such as running water and electricity. Additionally, they face enormous hardships, such as poverty, hunger, trauma, and school systems that do not provide them with the education that they need to escape poverty and build a better future. Political and economic instability has also had a negative impact on government revenues and this has resulted in underfunding of essential educational services. Additionally, thousands of teachers left the country to escape the economic collapse caused by hyperinflation, which peaked in 2008. This has lead to a massive shortage of qualified and experienced teachers, which has affected teaching quality.
Moreover, inadequate funding of the education sector, coupled with the reduction of quality educators, due to low morale for the remaining teachers, means that quality education and the realization of their true potential is now unattainable for the majority of Zimbabwean school children, particularly in the highest-needs schools. The widening economic crisis in Zimbabwe is contributing to a continuous decline in the quality of education at high-need schools. The reality is that there are tens of thousands of students who cannot even read, write, or speak English after seven (7) years of primary education. According to UNICEF, Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are marginalized not only in access to and completion of education but also in terms of the quality of education received. Students attending the 10 percent of schools with the best performance in Grade 7 exams were 40 times more likely to pass the exam than students attending the 10 percent of schools with the weakest performance. The top-performing primary schools were better funded, had better teacher/pupil ratios, and were more likely to have trained teachers. The gap in performance reflects grave inequities among schools and the children who attend them, this crisis in education is no longer tenable and the future of the majority of Zimbabwean school children is at stake. When the majority of our students are not learning this affects the entire country by increasing poverty and threatening our economy.