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Minister Coltart

Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
THE Government has secured $62 million for the upgrading of infrastructure at the country’s schools as it seeks to create a conducive learning environment. A number of classrooms at many schools are in a dilapidated state with scores of pupils, especially in rural areas, conducting lessons in the open.
In a recent interview, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart said the $62 million fund was sourced from the donor community under the Education Transition Fund (ETF) phase two.

He said the Government was concerned about the state of infrastructure in schools adding that the bulk of the funds would be allocated to rural schools.

“We have secured $62 million under the Schools’ Improvement Grant programme. The programme is part of ETF phase two, which focuses on upgrading the infrastructure in schools,” said Minister Coltart.

“The programme will cover all corners of the country with a bias towards rural schools, which are having major problems.”
Minister Coltart said schools have been advised to draft development plans and open bank accounts where the funds would be deposited.

“We have asked schools to submit development plans indicating their priorities and to open a bank accounts where the funds would be deposited.
“The Ministry has opened a schools’ grant programme office at its headquarters in Harare where the development plans would be submitted,” said Minister Coltart. “Schools can choose to focus on refurbishment, building new classrooms and so forth. Once the plans have been approved the money would be deposited into the school account.”

Minister Coltart said heads of schools and their School Development Committees (SDCs) would oversee the expenditure of the money.
He said the ministry has already embarked on a pilot programme in Goromonzi district in Mashonaland East province, which would be completed in six months time.

Said Minister Coltart: “We selected Goromonzi for a pilot programme because it is closer to Harare and is easy to monitor. The pilot project will be completed in December and come January 2014 the programme would be extended to all districts.

“The funding was received from the Germany government, the United Kingdom and our partners in the European Union (EU). The money would be used to repair roofs, broken window panes, water and sanitation. These are critical in creating a good learning environment,” said Minister Coltart.

ETF was set up by the Government in conjunction with Unicef in 2009 as part of efforts to improve the quality of education by bridging the funding gap in the education sector.

The scheme has resulted in the reduction of the pupil-textbook ration from about 1:15 to 1:1 in both primary and secondary schools.
Primary schools received textbook support on the four core-subject areas that include IsiNdebele, ChiShona, Mathematics, English and Environmental Science.

Secondary schools received Mathematics, Geography, Biology, History, Science and English textbooks.