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RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
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RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2403
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RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
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RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 HARARE 000988 
 
AF/S FOR B. WALCH 
INR FOR T. CHOJNACKI 
DRL FOR N. WILETT 
ECA FOR T. FARRELL 
ECA/A/S/A FOR D. YOUNG 
AF/PD FOR C. ANYANSO 
IIP FOR B. WHARTON 
ACCRA FOR KETEKU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
GABARONE FOR H. MERRITT 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B.PITTMAN 
TREASURY FOR D.PETERS AND T.RAND 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND E.LOKEN 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL SCUL SMIG ELAB KPAO ZI
SUBJECT: Education in Zimbabwe - A Quiet Implosion 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: In the wake of ongoing inter-party talks, much attention 
has been paid to immediate crises such as the collapse of the health 
care system and starvation facing the rural population.  Equally 
devastating, however, is the precipitous decline of all levels of 
the country's education sector, diminishing the availability of 
human capital necessary for post-transition rebuilding and 
development. In 2008, Zimbabwe's education sector witnessed a 
devastating and continued erosion of its teaching force, multiple 
teacher and faculty strikes, suspension of national exams, 
inflationary increases in school fees, and the postponement of the 
current university semester.  These factors led to an unprecedented 
call by both teachers' unions for the cancellation of the academic 
year. END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Background: From Continental Leader to Desperation 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2. Zimbabwe's educational system has been the backbone of the 
nation, its source of international pride and most important 
commodity.  Boasting the highest literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa 
until four years ago, over 96 percent, Zimbabwe inherited and built 
on the carefully constructed Rhodesian apartheid educational system 
which included white "Group A", missionary "Group B" and largely 
vocational black "Group C" schools.  Mugabe's inaugural 
administration in the early 80s invested heavily in schools, rapidly 
trained a teaching corps and paid teachers at a level where they 
served as community leaders.  Zimbabwe largely adopted British-style 
education, adding African content post-independence, but retaining 
University of Cambridge international examinations until five years 
ago when it abruptly localized all examinations and called for a 
"patriotic" re-examination of the curriculum. English has always 
been the medium of instruction, resulting in a professional 
population highly literate in English. 
 
¶3. The Zimbabwean government (GOZ) dedicated over 25 percent of its 
budget to education through the 1980s, the third highest in the 
world at the time. This declined to 22 percent by 1991 and only 13 
percent by 2006. In 1991, the GOZ spent USD 6 per student. Current 
estimates show that figure has dropped to just USD 18 cents. Valuing 
education, families traditionally spent a large percentage of their 
assets and income to send their children to the best possible 
schools. 
 
¶4. Despite financial challenges, Zimbabwe continues to send a large 
number of students to study in the U.S. relative to its population. 
The high caliber of the country's human capital has been both its 
blessing and its curse, fueling brain drain as Zimbabwean 
professionals remain highly desirable globally. New Zealand has 
actively recruited Zimbabwean doctors, the UK Zimbabwean nurses, and 
Australia and South Africa Zimbabwean engineers, accountants, 
bankers, and business managers at rates that surpass any other 
African country. 
 
------------------ 
The Teaching Force 
------------------ 
 
¶5. Whereas Zimbabwe requires approximately 150,000 teachers to staff 
its primary and secondary schools, current estimates are that the 
Ministry of Education is employing only 75,000 teachers. According 
to the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), a mere 40,000 
 
HARARE 00000988  002 OF 005 
 
 
have suggested minimal teacher training qualifications. The majority 
of Zimbabwe's teaching force has migrated to Botswana and South 
Africa; as civil servants, they do not require visas to enter either 
country.  Some, especially math and science teachers, have received 
work permits and jobs as teachers; others are working illegally or 
as cross-border traders.  HIV/AIDS has also contributed to the 
devastation of Zimbabwe's teaching force. 
 
¶6. Many teachers currently do not earn enough to pay for the cost of 
public transportation to reach their schools at the beginning of 
term if they are assigned to rural schools or for the daily commute 
if they are based in cities. Both PTUZ and its rival, the Zimbabwe 
Teachers' Union (ZIMTA), have repeatedly held strikes to demand 
better pay. Many teachers have resorted to teaching part time and 
either providing private tutorials, buying and selling goods or 
starting other small, informal businesses to sustain themselves. The 
PTUZ estimates that in 2008 the average Zimbabwean student at a 
government school received 5-10 percent of the normal teaching hours 
because of teacher strikes and migration. Many schools' 
Parent-Teacher Associations have tried a variety of fundraising 
schemes to supplement teacher salaries with donations of food, 
money, fuel and other commodities, but government has outlawed such 
contributions. 
 
¶7. The system was also strained in 2008 when the GOZ paid a large 
number of teachers to stop teaching and serve as election monitors 
during the March elections.  After ZANU-PF lost the March 
presidential election, ZANU-PF militias terrorized rural teachers, 
whom they blamed in part for the election result. Several 
headmasters in rural areas were murdered and numerous teachers were 
attacked, abducted and arrested.  Consequently, many teachers 
declined to continue teaching.  Many young people no longer aspire 
to become teachers, given their reduced economic and social status. 
 
 
¶8. In a rare show of cooperation, the two rival national teachers' 
unions - ZIMTA and PTUZ - held a joint press conference on October 7 
to commemorate World Teacher's Day at which they called for the 
cancellation of the 2008 academic year.  They stated that repeated 
teacher strikes, caused by unsustainably low salaries for teachers, 
as well as skyrocketing school fees and deteriorating infrastructure 
at government and mission schools, meant that the vast majority of 
Zimbabwean students did not receive a full year of learning and were 
not ready to progress to the next year.  They proposed that all 
students repeat grades in 2009. The two unions pressed for immediate 
attention to the education crisis, for livable wages to retain the 
teachers who have not yet fled, and for increased expenditure in the 
sector. 
 
-------------------------- 
Infrastructure and Quality 
-------------------------- 
 
¶9. One of the greatest triumphs of the first decade of independence 
was the development of an unprecedented number of primary and 
secondary schools throughout the country. However, without resources 
to develop, let alone maintain this investment, schools have 
deteriorated at an alarming rate. Many schools currently lack safe 
and reliable water, electricity or libraries.  In rural and 
high-density schools, average class size has doubled in the past few 
years from 25-30 to 50-60. As many as five students may share a 
single copy of a textbook in a high-density school and in some rural 
 
HARARE 00000988  003 OF 005 
 
 
schools, only the teacher has a copy of the text.  Whereas 
government schools traditionally provided students with notebooks 
and texts, it is now the responsibility of students and their 
families to provide all stationery and supplies. 
 
¶10. The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) operates 
national exams at three grades - Grade 7 exams, which are used for 
placement into secondary schools; Ordinary "O" Level exams after 
four years of secondary school education, used for entrance into 
teaching, nursing and polytechnic colleges, and Advanced "A" Level 
exams after an additional two years of high school, for entrance 
into universities. National exams are normally offered twice a year 
in June and October/November with results available two months 
later.  ZIMSEC has yet to release any results for exams written in 
June 2008, and has yet to schedule any O or A level exams for 
October or November.  Grade 7 exams, which should have been written 
over two weeks in early October, are now being written in one week 
starting October 27. 
 
¶11. Minister of Education Chigwedere has repeatedly stated that all 
exams are on schedule, and the GOZ has set up a special crisis post 
to ensure exams do occur.  However, despite these GOZ assurances, 
school officials have yet to receive exam information.  ZIMSEC has 
stated that the June results are not available because they do not 
have the resources to mark the exams, nor to record and distribute 
the results. In the past two years, there have been significant 
levels of exam result irregularity, ranging from schools receiving 
results for subjects their students have not written, to others not 
receiving results for exams they did write, and others receiving 
questionable results wildly inconsistent with their school 
performance. In the past three years, pass rates for O and A level 
exams, most notably for mathematics and English, have plummeted to 
the lowest levels since exams were localized. PTUZ reports that O 
level exam pass rates were over 70 percent in the mid-1990s; last 
year only 11 percent passed.  Without national exams, Zimbabwean 
students cannot move to the next level of education. The morale of 
students who expected to write national exams in 2008 is low, with 
many contemplating dropping out of school. 
 
¶12. Zimbabwe officially mandates seven years of primary school. 
Primary schooling was free at government schools until 1991 when the 
World Bank's Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP) 
recommended that the GOZ begin charging school fees. Previously 95 
percent of all children ages 6-16 attended school in Zimbabwe. 
Current estimates are that 20 percent of primary-aged children are 
not in school, and indicators point to a sharp decline in school 
attendance at all levels. 
 
¶13. Whereas government school fees are arguably negligible, when 
coupled with individual school levies and the cost of school 
uniforms, stationary and books, they quickly become prohibitive for 
many Zimbabweans.  As poverty deepens, many teenage girls cannot 
afford sanitary ware and many rural schools lack sanitary 
facilities, leading to monthly absenteeism and eventual drop out of 
girls in high schools.  As students see that higher education and 
the resultant professional jobs do not necessarily translate into 
higher pay, many are trading high school for informal sector 
self-employment or cross-border trading. 
 
¶14.  Additionally, an estimated 1.6 million Zimbabwean children have 
been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, leaving them either in the care of 
grandparents or other relatives, on their own, or in the streets. As 
 
HARARE 00000988  004 OF 005 
 
 
a result, the number of child laborers has increased exponentially 
as these children must help support their families and have no means 
to attend school. 
 
---------------------------------- 
University Closures and Challenges 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶15. No state universities have opened for the first semester of 
their academic year, supposed to begin in late August. Neither 
faculty nor staff are coming to work, although not technically on 
strike. They say current salaries are not sufficient to pay for 
public transportation.  At present, a senior lecturer at the 
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) earns the equivalent of USD 5 per month. 
 Although the UZ, the country's flagship university, has begun a 
small number of Master's programs this semester, the university has 
stated it will not open for undergraduates absent a steady supply of 
water, a living wage salary package for both faculty and staff and 
assurances of tuition increases to sustain the university. (NOTE: UZ 
now claims to be opening November 3, but previous opening dates have 
not been met. END NOTE.) 
 
¶16. Students who completed their degree programs in May have yet to 
receive final grades, transcripts or diplomas. Those starting 
university, as well as continuing students, have registered only to 
be told that "lectures have been indefinitely postponed until a 
further date to be advised."  Although UZ has closed before because 
of demonstrations and strikes, 2008 marks the first year since 
independence that the UZ School of Medicine has not begun on time. 
 
¶17. Local universities have suffered from severe brain drain in 
2008, losing a majority of qualified lecturers to universities in 
neighboring countries. Most departments are currently staffed by one 
or a handful of senior faculty members, who survive through outside 
consultancy or weekend teaching, and a bevy of recent graduates from 
their own undergraduate and master's programs. At the School of 
Medicine, students do not receive adequate hands-on training, and 
those that graduate are ill-prepared for the rigors of medical 
practice.  According to the head of one department, pass rates for 
medical exams have plummeted in recent years, and medical students 
interact with patients at Parirenyatwa Hospital without sufficient 
training and oversight. 
 
---------------- 
Student Activism 
---------------- 
 
¶18. Large scale repression of student activists continued in 2008. 
Leaders in the student movement, especially those in the Zimbabwe 
National Association of Student Unions (ZINASU) faced arrest, brutal 
attacks, and torture.  In early October, over 200 students marched 
to Parliament to present a petition demanding redress to the 
education crisis, leading to the arrest of three students and 
hospitalization of over 20, including one student leader's 
miscarriage.  UZ's decision to close student residences for 2008 and 
not offer any on-campus accommodation to students was largely viewed 
as a means of preventing increased student activism around the 
elections. Student Solidarity Trust (SST) documented over 359 cases 
of arrest, torture, abduction, and assault of university students 
between March and August 2008. 
 
--------------------------- 
 
HARARE 00000988  005 OF 005 
 
 
The Role of Private Schools 
--------------------------- 
 
¶19. Education in Zimbabwe is becoming increasingly stratified by 
wealth, and not based on merit.  The exception to the general 
decline is the private primary and secondary schools belonging to 
the Association of Trust Schools (ATS) as well as the country's two 
private church-run universities.  Private schools, now charging up 
to USD 1,500 a term for day scholars and USD 3,000 for boarders, use 
their resources to retain teachers, maintain their infrastructure 
and offer the high standard of education for which Zimbabwean 
schools used to be known.  However, these schools only service about 
2 percent of the nation's youth, including some students whose 
parents have fled for the diaspora. Methodist-run Africa University 
and Seventh Day Adventist Solusi University have managed to stay 
open throughout 2008 on their normal calendars with nearly full 
complements of teaching staff and expanded student bodies. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶20. Zimbabwe is in danger of losing an entire generation's 
education, setting back its recovery for decades. The effects of 
this lost generation could include continued unemployment, unmet 
expectations and devastating violent crime.  If and when Zimbabwe 
enters a period of political transition and economic recovery, 
rebuilding the education system will be key to restoring its once 
laudable human capacity. Zimbabweans and the international community 
alike must devise strategic and innovative means of salvaging what 
is left of Zimbabwe's educational system and build upon it.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
MCGEE