Zimbabwe delays school term by 2 weeks

Zimbabwe delays school term by 2 weeks

• Teachers' union calls for exams to be scrapped

• 16 boys expelled from Cyrene for roasting school pigs

• Mugabe fails to pay promised salaries to teachers

• Teachers call of strike after massive wage hike

• Mugabe says 'good salaries' approved for civil servants

• Mugabe promises to address striking teachers' plight

Posted to the web: 06/12/2009 21:59:13
ZIMBABWE on Tuesday delayed the new school term by two weeks as it emerged that last year’s Grade 7 examination papers had still not been marked.

Students starting their secondary education need the results for enrolment, but teachers have refused to participate in the marking over poor pay.

A statement released by the acting Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere said schools would now open on January 27, from the original January 13 opening.

Grade 7 results traditionally come out on the first weekend of December, allowing parents and their children at least a month to find places in secondary schools. The stand-off between the government and the markers leaves parents with a short space of time to find suitable schools for their children.

A lecturer at the Harare Polytechnic said markers declined “absurdly low” payments offered by the Higher Education Examination Council (Hexco) at a meeting last week.

The markers were told at the same meeting that the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) had stepped in to bail out the cash-strapped Zimbabwe government by financing the marking.

A marker who asked not to be named said UNESCO had offered to pay them US$200 per script, but Hexco said it would pay out in Zimbabwean dollars -- about Z$3 billion at the official rate which is not enough to buy US$1 on the dominant parallel market.

“The lecturers told Hexco that they wanted the payment in US dollars and half of the money should be paid in cash, not cheques," said the marker.

A number of government schools, battling hyperinflation and the apparent dollarisation of the economy, have told parents that starting this term, fees would be payable in foreign currency.

At Harare's Courtney Selous Primary School, parents were told last week that each student would pay US$50 for the term. At Kuwadzana 4 Primary School, parents were told that they had to fork out R20 per month.

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) said "no learning took place" last year, and warned that “a generation has been wasted”.

“The questions we continue to ask ourselves is that what will happen to the school kids, college and university students who have lost valuable learning time? What will be the consequences of the current developments on our economy and country in future?,” Zinasu said in a statement.

The students body called on President Robert Mugabe and his rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara to “put the interests of the people and the country first”. The three leaders have failed to form a government after signing a power sharing deal on September 15.

“The people have been patient enough. If you intend to form the inclusive government, let that be now. If you have other ideas then let us know now,” the students demanded, while urging Tsvangirai to end his three-month exile from the country. “Come back and lead,” they urged the MDC leader who is currently in South Africa.

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