Zimbabwe’s education system, although among the best on the African continent, has been damaged by economic, social and political crises, with teachers and students being affected. Added to this are climatic conditions which have only worsened the situation amid the falling economy.
Zimbabwe’s currency has witnessed an unprecedented devaluation, surging from 10.6% in 2018 to over 667% in 2023 and this decrease in the country’s economic growth has affected both teachers and students.
Teachers’ wages lower than consumer basket
The period of hyperinflation has led to a dramatic decline in teachers’ salaries, prompting them to migrate to other countries to sustain their families.
In Zimbabwe, a consumer basket for a family of six stood at US$540 at 31 July 2023. Teachers earn around US$300 a month which means they can barely afford the most basic items let alone send their children to boarding schools where tuition fees range from US$500 upwards.
Welington Gweshe, a 36-year-old teacher, started his job in September 2012 and teachers were then earning a monthly salary of US$540 but he explained, “it was later downsized to a point we earned RTGS (the then local currency) equivalent to US$34” which was later increased after a huge public outcry.
Gweshe also added that he is afraid that with the transition that recently happened in local currency, things may become worse.
“We are under a dark cloud with the transition from RTGS to ZiG (the new Zimbabwe Gold) currency which was announced over a short period of time, we do not know what we are going to earn now,” he said.
Mass resignation of teachers
The latest available data in a report by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education revealed that in 2019, 826 of about 7,307 Zimbabwean teachers resigned for various reasons, including retirement and discharge. However, the figures fall short of those provided by other teacher-representative organizations such as the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ).
PTUZ estimates that between 2022 and 2023, Zimbabwe lost between 1,000 and 1,800 teachers who left the country for other prospects abroad and the ARTUZ conducted a survey between October 2022 and October 2023 which found that about 4,000 teachers leave the country annually.
Drop out rate on the rise
According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “poverty in Zimbabwe has a child’s face”. Of the country’s 6.3 million boys and girls, 4.8 million live in poverty including 1.6 million in extreme poverty and the continually deteriorating economic crisis slashes their chances of pursuing education.
The El Nino-induced drought has also seen many children, especially in rural areas, drop out of school due to hunger and the failure by parents to pay school fees as they could not harvest their produce.
This scenario also affects tertiary education institutions too. Darlington Chigwena, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), said that the deepening crisis had triggered an increase in the number of students dropping out of universities.
“The financial crisis is affecting students causing them to drop out of school and it is a huge blow that is barring most students from learning. Tuition fees are exceptionally high and seem to be non-affordable to all the students. We are about to engage the ministry because we are losing many students, we are in a crisis,” said Chigwena.
Lamentable education infrastructure
Adding to this gloomy situation is the infrastructure of the education sector. The findings of the Office of the Auditor General report for 2022 indicate that some schools had been established in abandoned beer halls and garages while others were still using dagga and thatch houses as classrooms. Some schools in rural areas have resorted to running classes under trees. Furthermore, many children in rural areas walk long distances to access basic education and some end up simply dropping out.
This sorry picture is partly due to the natural disasters that frequently hit the country. Cyclone Idai in 2019 and Cyclone Freddy in 2023 destroyed all school infrastructure in their paths, leaving school children stranded. Cyclone Idai, which hit in the middle of a school term, washed away the infrastructure of 139 schools, according to UNICEF.
The destruction caused many children to attend lessons sitting on logs or on the ground outside, under a tree, or beneath the scorching sun. The schools were totally washed away and many teachers moved from areas such as Chimanimani where cyclones wreaked havoc.
Government’s allocation for education
The Zimbabwe government’s education budget allocation is believed to have worsened the education crisis. In 2022, the government allocated 13.4% of the total budget to education and although the allocations have continued to increase since then, reaching14.2% in 2023 and 17.7% in 2024, it has failed to meet the committed 20% agreed under the Dakar Declaration of 2000.
