Thread by @lmakombe

1/25 #Zimbabwe education policy as experienced by a village boy in post independent Zimbabwe (1982 – 1992) a thread 🧵

2/25 The success of the famed #Zimbabwe education system post 1980 hinged on sound policies as well as massive support by communities, at least this was the case with #Zongoro my village (see Kanyongo, 2005:66)

3/25 Kanyongo (2005:66) says “government involved local communities to help support schools through providing labour and other resources” a fact which has been echoed by many other authorities

4/25 I am using my personal experience to show how a policy impacts people, I am not a trained public policy analyst and my posts here are a reflection of what we experienced then in the village without knowing why we were experiencing it

5/25 For this thread, public policy is taken as “system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding priorities concerning a given topic promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives” Dean Kilpatrick

6/25 A reading of the history of our education system shows that before independence, the number of children who got as far as Grade 3 or 4 was very small (this explains the ‘very’ high standard then) but was a false standard (Fay Chung, 1989)

7/25 The point above is critical as it underlines the radical nature of the 1980 policy: “Education for All” To illustrate, in our village, #Zongoro, we had the first pre-school (creche) in 1981

8/25 Pre-school was meant to prepare us for real schooling. Ku creche we spent time playing games and listening to stories (my favourite) before we went for maheu (possibly another approach towards feeding those below 7 years)

9/25 This was heavily subsidised maybe paying Z$0.50 per term for creche and we were paying the same amount per family per term. To illustrate, Edward Makombe’s children (Wonder, Leonard and Caleb) would pay 50 cents per term

10/25(An aside Payment per family policy was abandoned in 1985/6
When this was instituted the elders assumed a father would have a few children until when one super father had his children transfer to #Zongoro
He had 36 children there was an uproar & policy changed to per child)

11/25 This was reasonable. As Fay Chung, 1989 says: According to research I have been reading, 30-40% of peasants are earning something like $120,00/yr & at the moment the average annual cost of education is about $300,00 a child.

12/25 I am not sure my parents were earning that amount & as Chung, 1989 adds: Now if you say a parent earning $120/year must cover the cost of educating his/her eight children, you are more or less saying the poor cannot be educated (in our case we were 3 & couldnt get educated)

13/25 The successive points above show how dire the education system then was. It needed a sober intervention and if you read Chung (2006) you will see how elite policymakers wanted to perpetuate the skewed access to education which would have been a disaster for the likes of us

14/25 Now we had a situation here. Government wanted to spread access to education thru building more schools & accelerating the training of teachers and availing books to schools While government was playing its role what has not been documented was the role of the communities

15/25 Chung, 89: I have been going in the provinces parents want 2 build more schools & 2 do more 4 their children Actually we R now being forced to curb this local enthusiasm becoz we would end up with so many schools People at grassroots are prepared & want to do mo

16/25 In #Zongoro, we were equally enthusiastic & we started by rebuilding the primary school which had been destroyed during the war Learning activities had stopped between 77/78, with pupils opting to go to other schools, unfortunately most had also closed except for Mutasa Pry

17/25 When I started grade 1, 1982, #Zongoro Primary had an enrolment of more than 1 500 pupils. For example, those who started in 1981 initially had 6 streams (grade 1a – f) but they ended as 5 after dropouts (understandably so as some were teenagers in grade 1)

18/25 Initially, we were using dilapidated toilets. These were ‘pit latrines’ very dangerous and unhealthy. I still have bad memories of those toilets. I am hesitant to be very graphic about those toilets but one can fill in with imaginations

19/25 We were saved when proper Blair toilets were built. They still stand today, almost 35 years after There was a urinal section, still standing. At first the entire school staff erred and labelled it “urinary” section. The correction made is still evident to date

20/25 Classrooms were not enough to accommodate all of us. We alternated, some coming in the early morning while others would come mid morning. We would spend the rest of the lessons learning from under a tree (something that also happened when I was in secondary school)

21/25 The community, realising the need for extra classrooms, joined hands and a new classroom block was constructed It eased pressure
Enrolment had dipped as only those due 4 grade 1 were coming in unlike in 80/83 when many denied the opportunity before independence had enrolled

22/25 How did the community build classroom blocks, toilets and the other infrastructure?

23/25 I mentioned the modest payment made, first per family and then per pupil which were not enough to meet the massive infrastructure (by village standards) development. This is where communities worked with the government to build schools

24/25 Until 1988, there was no secondary school in #Zongoro. It was rare to have people going to boarding schools and the majority found their way to Mundenda/Mapara/Vumbunu Secondary Schools. The community decided to build own secondary school

25/25 (Aside the secondary had a premature start in 87 & the idea was abandoned after a fortnight with all the pupils going to Mundenda. When it finally took off in 1989 form 1 classes were housed at the primary school with the headmaster Manyumwa leading both primary & secondary

26/(In 1989, the growing secondary school was still housed at the primary school, meaning we had eaten further into the scares infrastructure. There was a new headmaster for the secondary school Mr Haukozi. We finally shifted to the new site in 1990)

27/ in 87/8 following a decision to build a secondary school, it was decided that each family was supposed to mould 1000 bricks for the secondary school This decision had far reaching benefits for the community. It was a masterstroke, benefits flow within the community and beyond

28/ Pupils who at #Zongoro from 88 should be credited, together with the community, 4 constructing this school. Our contributions included: carrying bricks to the new secondary school site (about 1km), fetching water and the most dangerous one, collecting boulders for foundation

29/ I say collection and transportation of boulders (from a hill Guhwe, to the west of the school) was dangerous for a number of reasons. There were various reptiles/scorpions lurking under those stones and the unfortunate were bitten. Fortunately there was no serious case.

30/ Some boys drew fun from the activity getting the biggest of boulders roll them down the hill, scaring anyone along the way as the rolling stones threatened to sweep the industrious and unsuspecting pupils This made life easier as the school is at the foot of the hill

31/ While carrying bricks and boulders was usually done during general work, the same could not be said about fetching water. You would have someone come in, in the middle of a lesson, announcing that the builders had ran out of water and our class was supposed to fetch the water

32/ It would mean that the lesson will be suspended as we would run, diligently to #Zongoro river, which is east of the school and a good +700metres. In most cases, such an announcement presaged the end of the lesson unless if the teacher was still very eager to teach

33/ Apart from the disruption of lessons, the first year, for me at the new secondary school site was the most horrible. While the newly constructed buildings stood, imposing and bold, there was one big problem. They had no windowpanes. And the Mutasa winter made like unbearable

34/ Additionally, there was no furniture. The enterprising boys took planks meant for roofing trusses and put a few bricks underneath and we were done for the benches, no need for desks.

35/ Then we had no books. I remember well when in form four we had less than 5 copies of the recommended text for Core Science (Science in Zimbabwe) for the two form four classes, each with about 45 pupils. The situation eased in the 3rd term I think when we had new texts

36/ (We started form one as three classes. We completed form four as two classes. This was mainly a result of drop outs for a number of reasons including failure to secure fees, pregnancies and in rare cases a transfer to another school (Vumbunu, Mundenda or Mapara))

37/ In form four only one/two of us registered all subjects. Some had ‘dropped’ difficult subjects, mainly Maths and History while most could not afford the Z$8 per subject then. I had to decide which one to drop Bible Knowledge or Geography, I was very poor in both

38/ Conclusion: in the 80s and 90s, communities bought into government policies and played a significant part in educating the nation. Had it not been for that, we may not have managed to educate the nation.