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Professor Paul Mavhima

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
THE Government has started disbursing up to $5 000 to satellite schools to improve the quality of education and pass rates at the institutions.

Shortage of teachers and inadequate infrastructural development in schools is affecting the country’s quality of education, lowering pass rates, Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Professor Paul Mavhima has said.

To address the infrastructural challenges, Prof Mavhima said, the Government is disbursing funds to satellite schools for face-lifting.

Satellite school are mostly in remote new settlements and some are built of mud and dagga, and have shortage of furniture.

“We continue to have challenges in the area of infrastructure. A lot of our schools, especially satellites don’t have adequate infrastructure. We’re disbursing money, in some cases $4 000 to $5 000 to a school. I know it’s very little but it goes a long way to maybe putting a roof on that classroom, making sure floors are there. We hope to start a massive programme through joint ventures as we go into 2017,” he said.

Prof Mavhima said shortage of teachers was also affecting the country’s education sector with some schools operating with skeletal staff.

The Chronicle recently revealed that some schools in Matabeleland North were operating with a single teacher taking grades one to seven, resulting in classes spending a term without learning.

He said the Government’s freeze on posts was also hampering successes in the education sector.

“The other challenge is that we haven’t been able to fill teacher vacancies because of the limited fiscal space. Government has challenges in hiring teachers where we wanted to do so. Some schools operate with shortage of teachers and that has affected the quality of education,” he said.

Prof Mavhima, however, lauded educators for continuously working hard under difficult conditions saying pass rates are improving.

“When we took over in 2013 the administration of this ministry we’ve been very focused on making sure we improve all aspects of education in this country despite shortage of resources,” said Prof Mavhima.

He said attributed some of the successes in the education sector to consultations with school heads, teachers, teachers unions and parents on the best ways to improve the country’s education.

“We’ve seen an improvement not only in Grade Seven results but in Ordinary Level and Advanced Level. We’ve seen an improvement across the board,” said Prof Mavhima.

@nqotshili