LOVE him or hate him, the late former President Robert Mugabe prioritised education in Zimbabwe’s transition after 1980 with huge generational benefits for the country.
Teacher training was ramped up and our schools, colleges and universities delivered quality talent imbued with an exceptional work ethic.
Sadly, most of this has been reversed and our education system needs reimagining.
Last week, as the world celebrated the International Day of Education, we learnt that 500 000 Zimbabwean children of school-going age are out of school.
Evidence of this is all around us in the number of children loitering on our streets when they should be receiving an education to equip them for the future.
The reality in our schools is that the quality of our education leaves a lot to desired, with the Zimbabwe Early Learning Assessment for 2022 revealing that a quarter of infant learners transition to junior level without basic reading and computation competencies.
Except for a few private schools, most school-leavers emerge from our education system half-baked to face a tough and uncertain world.
To make things worse, Zimbabwe does not have enough junior and secondary school places for the nation’s needs.
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The number of trained teachers leaving government employ for the private sector and the region is alarming and this has seen a decline in the quality and number of teachers in our education system.
Parents are paying some teachers for extra lessons for their children, as a lot of the educators have left the system or are moonlighting.
Teachers who remained in the system are stretched, demotivated and underpaid.
Working conditions for teachers have been buffeted by years of economic collapse and misplaced policy priorities.
This is all scandalous.
We cannot develop as a country without investing heavily in our education system.
Education is a vital instrument to unlocking the potential and creativity in all our children so that they play a purposeful role in our progress as a nation.
We must assume that every child has an opportunity to contribute to our progress and create the enabling policy and infrastructure for this to happen.
Adam Grant in his latest book Hidden Potential says: “Nothing is more vital to the progress of future generations than the quality of our current education systems.”
Since 2003, Finland has shown the world what happens when the right attention and resources are channelled towards the education of every child.
According to Grant, a popular mantra in Finnish schools is “We can’t afford to waste a brain.”
Zimbabwe has a lot to learn from Finland on how it turned a terrible education system into one that is now admired the world over.
Teachers in Finland are paid well and theirs is the most admired profession.
Sixty years ago, teaching and nursing were among the most admired professions in Zimbabwe.
Not anymore.
For Zimbabwe to be competitive in this dog-eat-dog world, we must realise that education is a vital tool for economic development and nation building.
Our human capital is a vital resource, particularly if appropriately equipped to add value. It possesses the potential to turn challenges into opportunities.
Approximately 7,7 million of our population are children with 2,5 million being under five years of age.
This is a powerful force if our leaders unleash that boundless ingenuity through an education system that leaves no child behind.
Zimbabwe’s education system must unlock the collective power of our human intelligence and deploy it for our development.
Some nations, such as Finland and South Korea, are powering ahead on the back of huge technological investments and innovation while we squander our human capital and fight over vacuous political agendas.
It is a scandal that at a time when other nations are figuring out generative artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, our leaders think drilling boreholes is an innovation.
With 500 000 young people of school-going age out of school, we are at a disadvantage and soon, they will be a burden and not an asset to the nation.
We build the nation through allowing every child to get an education that surfaces their God-given talents for the benefit of all.
This is how new industries, businesses and jobs emerge to offer a better life for all.
- Trevor Ncube is chairman of Alpha Media Holdings and host of ICWT
