Private education under serious threat in Zimbabwe

By Violet Gonda

11 August 2005

After embarking on the land reform programme and failing to prove it has helped the country, the Mugabe regime has been attacking different sectors one by one, using various pieces of legislation as excuses for control.

Most recently it has become clear that the education sector is next. As many people had stayed in Zimbabwe because there were still good private schools, this threat might precipitate an exodus of large proportions.

On Thursday a Parliamentary Committee on Education held a public hearing on the Education Amendment Bill in Harare. Key stakeholders say not enough time was allotted to concerned parties to give their views at the hearing. President of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Takavafira Zhou, said many of the people who made submissions appeared to be part of a rented crowd of ruling party supporters with a biased slant in support of the controversial bill.

Critics say Robert Mugabe's regime is trying to reinvent the same old laws to force his will on schools. They are concerned that the amendments to the Education Act will enable the Minister of Education to prescribe the fees and levies for private and church run schools.

Zhou said the minister has been destroying the education sector and this bill will give him an open licence to finally destroy private education.

The Amendment Bill would give the minister powers to punish schools that fail to comply with the government's directives on school fees and levies as they would be under the direct management of his ministry.

The ministry would also be able to vet the qualifications of teachers employed by private schools. Critics say the government would have the power to determine who could be employed by these schools.

This controversial Bill has already had its first reading in the House and was referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee. The committee submitted an adverse report on the bill saying there are parts which contravene the Constitution.

Many are worried that the bill seeks to bring back the same conditions thrown out by the courts when the government tried to impose conditions on school fees and school uniforms on non-governmental schools.

The Bill also proposes that all three main languages will be taught on an equal time basis and that up to Form One any of these languages can be used as the medium of instruction. The Minister will also be able to make regulations governing teachers' conduct, associations of teachers and school uniforms.

Zimbabwe's education system, once the envy of the region, has been deteriorating due to neglect over the last few years. Will this be the final straw?