Education in Zimbabwe under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for primary and secondary education, and the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development for higher education. Both are regulated by the Cabinet of Zimbabwe.Chikoko, Vitallis (2008). "The Role Of Parent Governors In School Governance In Zimbabwe: Perceptions Of School Heads, Teachers And Parent Governors." International Review Of Education 54 (2): 243-263. Academic Search Complete. Retrieved November 2015. The education system in Zimbabwe encompasses 13 years of primary and secondary school and runs from January to December. The school year is a total of 40 weeks with three terms and a month break in-between each term.
In 1980, education was declared a basic human right by Robert Mugabe, the leader of the ZANU party, which changed the constitution to recognize primary and secondary public education as free and compulsory.SACMEQ. Education in Zimbabwe. SACMEQ 2010 (). Retrieved 13 September 2011 One of Zimbabwe's Millennium Development Goals was to achieve universal education for all students; however, the goal was not achieved as of 2015 due to a public health crisis, economic downturn and inability to afford costs associated with education. The country is currently working toward the Sustainable Development Goal of providing universal and free education to all students by 2030. Zimbabwe had an adult literacy rate of 88% in 2014.
Despite education being recognised as a basic human right in Zimbabwe, in 2017, the Zimbabwean Government did only 77.2% of what was possible at its income level to ensure that the right to education was being fulfilled, categorically, the government's ability to fulfil this right as "bad". This data is collected by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative. The initiative also breaks down the right to education by calculating Primary and Secondary School Enrolment. Keeping Zimbabwe's income level in mind, Zimbabwe is doing only 61.9% of what should be possible at its income level for secondary school enrolment and 92.4 percent for primary school enrolment.
History
Colonial government to 1980
The British South Africa Company arrived in the 1890s to Rhodesia, the area now known as Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia.Atkinson, N.D. (1972). Teaching Rhodesians: A History of Educational Policy in Rhodesia. London: Longman. pp 5-14. Retrieved 19 October 2015. The Company administration of Rhodesia created Christian missionary schools to serve local communities. Missionary schools provided an education for the indigenous population that focused on agricultural production and industrial development including carpentry and building.Keepel-Jones, Arthur (1983). Rhodes and Rhodesia: The White Conquest of Zimbabwe, 1884–1902. Montreal, Quebec and Kingston, Ontario: McGill-Queen's University Press. . Retrieved 10 October 2015 N.J. Atkinson claims that in order to control the local population, the Company limited education and censored knowledge in schools. Furthermore, he argues that the eurocentric education system was a structural institution that reinforced the superiority of White settlers even though, they were the minority of the population. Missionary schools perpetuated social and economic repression of the indigenous population by reducing their chances of earning well-paying jobs or positions of power. Rugare Mapako claims education to Africans offered limited academic and foundational skills in order to promote labor exploitation and indentured servitude. Limited access to a quality education kept Africans subordinate and inferior to White colonists in order to advance British political and economic gains.
Due to large investments in education by the Southern Rhodesian government prior to 1960, Europeans were disproportionately funded more for education than the majority African population because the Rhodesian government controlled access to quality schools based on race, prejudice and ethnicity.Edward Shizha and Michael T. Kariwo (2011). Education and Development in Zimbabwe. Boston: Sense Publishers. pp. 20–30. . Retrieved 10 October 2015 Segregation of schools based on funding was most extreme in the 1970s because Europeans only represented a few per cent of Zimbabwe's population, but were allocated slightly less than half of government spending on education. Funding secondary school was also disproportionally offered to Europeans rather than Africans.Zindi, Fred (1996). "Towards the Elimination of Disparities in Educational Provision: A Look Into Zimbabwe and South Africa" (PDF). Journal of Social Development in Africa. 11(1): 43-51. Retrieved 9 October 2015. In the 1970s, only 43.5% of African children attended school, while only 3.9% of these children enrolled in secondary school.
Schedule in Zimbabwe
During the colonial era in Zimbabwe (then known as Southern Rhodesia), the education system was heavily modeled after the British curriculum. The subjects offered depended largely on the type of school, with a significant divide between schools for European settlers and those for the African population. Here are the primary subjects taught during that period:
Core Academic Subjects
English Language & Literature: Focused on the British canon (Shakespeare, Dickens, etc.) and proper "Queen's English" grammar. Mathematics: Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry. History: Centered on the British Empire, the "discovery" of Africa by explorers like David Livingstone, and European world wars. Geography: Primarily focused on the British Isle, the Commonwealth, and physical geography. Science: General Science, Biology, and Physics (more common in urban European schools). Latin: Often taught in prestigious government schools for the elite. Religious & Moral Education Scripture / Religious Instruction: Since many schools were run by missionaries (Anglican, Catholic, Methodist), Bible study and Christian ethics were mandatory.
Practical & Vocational Subjects In many schools—particularly those for the African population—the British administration emphasized "industrial" or manual training over high-level academics:
Agriculture: Soil conservation, crop management, and animal husbandry. Woodwork & Metalwork: For boys. Domestic Science (Home Economics): Needlework, cooking, and laundry for girls. Physical Training (PT): Drills and organized sports like Cricket and Rugby.
Revolution in Rhodesia
In 1979, the new government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia called for an education reform that created a three-tier school system. The Education Act of 1979 regulated access to each type of school through a zoning system based on residency. Before the act, Zimbabwe's education system was divided between African and European schools. After the shift in policy and leadership the education system split into government schools, community schools and private schools. Government schools were also split into three divisions called Group A, B and C. White students historically attended Group A schools that offered highly trained teachers and a quality education. These schools were located in white suburbs that denied housing opportunities for Africans, reinforcing segregation based on ethnicity and race. Group B schools required a low-fee payment and C schools did not require a fee beyond educational materials. Both were only available for African students. Group B and C schools had less resources, funding and qualified faculty compared to Group A schools.
National education reform in 1980 The Rhodesian Bush War from 1964-1979, a fifteen-year guerrilla war, catalysed the shift in power from British colonial rule to de jure sovereignty in 1980.Kalley, Jacqueline Audrey (1999). Southern African Political History: A chronological of key political events from independence to mid-1997. pp 711-713. . Retrieved 20 November 2015 The ZANU party, Zimbabwe African National Union, won the national election in 1980 and took over the historic White minority government in Rhodesia. The ZANU party democratised education by promising free and compulsory primary and secondary education to all children in Zimbabwe. The party's claims were backed by the national constitution, which recognises education as a basic human right. All primary school tuition fees were abolished after independence. Dr. Dzingai Mutumbuka was elected the Minister of Education to support Zimbabwe through another education reform and to keep students in school. His leadership changed the climate of the education system because the Ministry of Education focused on fostering self-sufficient students that are productive, motivated and dedicated citizens. The government allocated 17.3% of the total national budget toward education. This was politically considered an "education miracle" as cited by scholar Clayton Mackenzie. Ultimately, Zimbabwe's education system reform was to ensure equal access to education by providing primary and secondary education to all children.
1980s and 1990s
Since independence, the government focused on providing equal and free education for all through the rapid expansion of education resources to keep up with the demand. Within one year, the education system nearly doubled the number of students it served from 885,801 students to 1,310,315 students in primary and secondary education. Exponential increases in the number of students attending school heightened the need for more infrastructure and teachers.Brooks World Poverty Institute (11 December 2009). Moving forward in Zimbabwe: Reducing poverty and promoting growth, Ch. 6: Education . Brooks World Poverty Institute 2009, p.73. Retrieved 13 September 2011
Teachers were in high demand immediately following Zimbabwe's independence. In the mid-1980s, thousands of refugee children from Mozambique emigrated to Zimbabwe, increasing the number of children attending public schools and demand for teachers. The Minister of Education brought in teachers from Australia, Britain and Canada for a short period of time to fill the teaching gaps. Schools expanded their human resources to serve as many children as possible with limited infrastructure by practicing "hot-seating," also known as double session schooling. "Hot-seating" is the practice of offering class in the morning to half of the students and in the afternoon to the other half. "Hot-seating" was still not enough to meet the demands of the population; therefore, the Ministry of Education expanded teacher education colleges rapidly by providing "on-the-spot" teacher training. In 1986, 8,000 additional teachers were trained to meet national demands.
Communities also rapidly built more infrastructure for education. For example, from 1979-1984, the number of primary schools in operation increased by 73.3% and the number of secondary schools increased by 537.8%. Despite the challenges following the magnitude of students to educate, Zimbabwe claimed to achieve universal primary education by the end of the 1980s. By the 1990s, primary schooling was nearly universal and over half the population had completed secondary education.
UNICEF claims that the country's education system was once the most developed on the continent, although the system continues to suffer from a contemporary decline in public funding linked to hyperinflation and economic mismanagement.UNICEF Zimbabwe (June 2011). "Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition 2010 Report Evaluation"(PDF). UNICEF. Retrieved 15 November 2015 A decrease in GDP by 40% from 2000-2008 marked a period of economic downturn in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Social expenditures on health and education also decreased by more than half.