AfricaBlog

Knuckling Under (Updated)

The Zimbabwe school "crisis" ended when the schools were bullied into allowing the government to, essentially, set their fees. I don't blame the schools for knuckling under--what other course of action was open to them after the government started arresting teachers?

It really just plays as another act in the tragicomedy that is Zimbabwe.

The schools have "seen the wisdom of seeking an accommodation with the government in order to allow them to re-open," the minister said.

Private schools must seek permission to increase fees by more than 10%. Annual inflation is currently more than 580%.

Mr Chigwedere had accused the schools of massively increasing fees to keep out black pupils.

"We are dealing with racist schools. They are all former white schools, all racist."

Schools have seen the wisdom of seeking an accommodation with the government in order to allow them to re-open

The South African Press Agency reports that most of those who attend the private schools are now black.

Well, there is some bit of equity in this. I mean, if the government can destroy the public schools, why shouldn't they be able to destroy the private ones as well?

Read the story.

Update: I came across the Beeb article that addresses the decline of schooling in Zimbabwe.

By the 1990s, Zimbabwe had the highest literacy rates in Africa and it remains high at 89% of the adult population.

But the economic crisis, compounded by the HIV/Aids pandemic, means that school enrolment has fallen to 59%.

Education is one of those things that ripples throughout an entire society. AIDs and HIV rates fall in those countries with better eduction, economic outlook usually improves for countries with higher literacy rates (literacy being a good indicator of a broader look at education). A low school enrollment rate--especially in a country that was, just fifteen years ago, used to a much higher enrolment rate--combined with no plan for rectifying the situation is simply a plan for failure.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at May 7, 2004 09:23 AM