Bulawayo residents have expressed alarm over collapsing education standards in the country’s second city as seen in poor results and rampant drug abuse by learners, some of whom have been caught at vuzu parties.
Vuzu parties are wild indoor gatherings organised by learners and other teenagers where they engage in beer drinking, drugs and sex.
The teenagers self-fund the party, often without the knowledge of their parents.
Investigations have shown that it is often at such parties where young people are introduced to the world of sex and drugs.
In a petition addressed to Bulawayo Provincial Affairs minister Judith Ncube, residents and other stakeholders accused Primary and Secondary Education ministry provincial director Bernard Mazambani of failing to stem the collapse of education standards in the city.
They copied the letter to the ministry’s headquarters in Harare.
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“We write to your esteemed office requesting for your urgent intervention to save the education sector in the province from total collapse that we have been witnessing since the appointment of Mazambani as the provincial education director,” reads the petition.
“Minister, we have never witnessed this unprecedented decline in education standards in our province. What is shocking is that this comes at a time when, as Bulawayo, we had registered so many successes in education. If this is not urgently checked, we risk losing all the gains we had made.”
They said the education sector in the city was on autopilot with no leader to address challenges it was facing.
“Our province has a multitude of problems, including but not limited to, drug abuse, violence amongst our learners, vuzu parties, poor results etc,” the petition added.
“We really need a visionary leader, who has a sense of belonging and is hands on, not a visitor, who is rarely in the province.”
Last month, 14 pupils were arrested while attending a Vuzu party in Pumula South suburb in the city.
Also the Grade Seven passrate at Bulawayo council schools went down by nearly 8% in 2022.
The petitioners also expressed concern over the poor handling of ministry property such as vehicles.
“We have seen GED 920, GED 1269 9 (twice involved in accidents) and GED 756 all down through serious road accidents,” the petition said.
“We, then, as stakeholders in education, wonder how this is allowed to continue, are these accidents reported to the police, or authorities in education; who repairs these vehicles?.”
The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) also raised its concerns against Mazambani in a follow-up letter dated October 9.
Zimta provincial executive officer Handsome Ncube said they were disappointed with Mazamban’s failure to attend their crucial extraordinary general meeting at Hlekweni Training Centre on September 23.
“This is despite the fact that we had sent the invite in a relatively good time and your office had confirmed that it would revert,” Ncube wrote, adding the meeting was meant to also address challenges facing the education sector..
“The no-show affected our programming to a great extent and we were at great pains to reschedule and we strongly feel your office failed to give the teachers the respect that they deserve as professionals and we would have expected better from your esteemed office.”
“Your courteous assurance that this mishap will not happen again would be highly appreciated.”
Mazambani went ballistic when contacted for comment saying he did not report to Zimta.
“I do not report to Zimta neither am I a member,” he said.
Mazambani also dismissed complaints over the poor state of the education sector in Bulawayo.
“All these complaints come from Zimta. It is a lie that there are stakeholders complaining,” he said
“Even in Harare children take drugs and the cabinet knows about that, it's not in Bulawayo alone and you cannot blame that on a single person, am I the one selling those drugs?”
Bulawayo Provincial Affairs minister Judith Ncube did not respond to questions sent to her.