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Andile Tshuma, Gender
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a global learning disruption of unprecedented scales causing the most significant threat in history to education. The closure of schools and universities and the critical digital learning crisis has disrupted the lives of an estimated 1,6 billion students globally. The pandemic threatens a seismic reversal of the hard-earned gains of millions of girls enrolled at primary and secondary school over the past two decades.

The pandemic has exposed the fragility of the education sector globally and this has shown the need to develop, coordinate and manage advocacy projects and initiatives on local, national, and international levels that focus on building education and addressing the digital learning crisis during Covid-19 recovery and beyond. The need for funding for education is at the centre of Covid-19 recovery and transformation towards more equal and sustainable societies.

The situation needs governments, the private and civil society to unite and direct efforts towards saving the education sector and keeping children in school, particularly girls who are more vulnerable at such times.

The Collin Nyabadza Children’s Voice Charitable Trust (CNCVCT) is one such organisation that has been working to ensure that children recover from the Covid-19 related disruptions to education in Zimbabwe.

This year, the organisation is running a “54 000 books campaign” where they are distributing 54 000 books to schools around the country, particularly in Matobo, Bubi and Tsholotsho districts.

To date, the organisation has reached out to more than 300 00 pupils and 42 schools, helping with furniture, infrastructure, stationery, text books, laboratory equipment, construction of staff cottages as well as providing water and sanitation facilities, all to ensure an improved learning environment for pupils and improved work environment for rural teachers.

Mr Collin Nyabadza, a father of three boys and a girl, and founder and chief executive officer of the organisation, working with a team of volunteers in Bulawayo, says he is driven by his desire of not wanting to see a child failing to realise his or her destiny due to poverty.

After two of the girls he mentored from primary school excelled in their careers, one graduating with a PhD while the other being a top engineer, Mr Nyabadza has not looked back and continues to make strides in providing opportunities for educating girls.

He says he sees every child in the eyes of his children an wishes the best for them.

Mr Nyabadza left Tjewondo in the early 2000s but his love for the community and disadvantaged children has kept him connected to Tjewondo pupils as well as every disadvantaged school going child in Zimbabwe.

He believes educating girls has a multiplier effect in communities.

“What motivates is that I deeply love children. I am someone who hates seeing a child failing to go to school just because they are from a disadvantaged family. I’m someone who strongly believes that poverty should never be used to determine a child’s destiny. I’m a father of four, one girl who’s at university here in Canada and three boys. I love my children dearly and want the best for them. What I want for them is what I want for every child. This is what motivates me in this work. I always see my children in every child that I interact with,” said Mr Nyabadza.

A former Teacher at Tjewondo Primary School in Matobo District, Mr Nyabadza migrated to Canada in 2001 where he now lives with his family.

“The starting point was in 1993 upon my arrival at Tjewondo Primary School. I was assigned a Grade Seven class. I had two very brilliant girls whom I sourced scholarships for from one local company. This enabled them to go to high school. The company sponsored the pair for the following six years of their high school education. I became their mentor, counsellor and advisor as I wanted them to succeed for two main reasons. First, I wanted them to succeed so that they could have a better future and secondly so that their success could pave way for more children at the school to receive scholarships. I am glad that the two did not disappoint. They went on to do very well. One of them is now a top engineer in the country while the other one later moved to South Africa where she has a good job,” he said.

“Like they say, “success breeds success”, the following year I secured a scholarship for yet another girl at the school. I nurtured, mentored and guided her. About two years ago she graduated with a PhD in South Africa,” said Mr Nyabadza.

Two years ago, the organisation managed to source 50 000 books which were donated to schools in Matabeleland North and South provinces.

They have also built classroom blocks and furnished classrooms for schools in Matobo, Tsholotsho and Bubi districts.

“Since the establishment of the trust in 2012, we have impacted more than 300 000 children as well as teachers and parents. This has been made possible by the financial and material support we have and continue to receive from various organisations dotted across the globe.

We continue to receive support from Austria, Australia, the UK, the USA, and Canada where I live. We have carried out several important projects since we started. For instance, two years ago we sourced 50 000 books from Books Abroad, Scotland. With those books we managed to reach out to 42 primary and secondary schools as well as the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and Lupane State University (LSU). We managed to assist more than 15 000 university students. This year we have again managed to source a total of 54 000 books from our same Scotland partners and we anticipate to reach out to even higher numbers than the previous project,” he said.

Considering how the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted lives and shattered dreams, there has never been a more critical time to invest in people, especially in women and girls than now.

Some girls drop out of school as parents are unable to source learning materials on their own. For many girls, the lockdown blew the lights out of their hopes for brighter futures and some are now mothers as they were forced into early marriages.

Mr Nyabadza said his organisation works closely with teachers and communities to help ensure that parents protect the girl child and keep all school going children in school.

He said most communities where they work now understood the importance of education and awarding equal educational opportunities to boys and girls.

In 2018, Unesco estimated that 130 million girls between the age of six and 17 were out of school and 15 million girls of primary-school age – half of them in sub-Saharan Africa, had never entered a classroom. Women’s participation in the global labour market is nearly 27 percentage points lower than for men.

The Covid-19 pandemic is projected to increase this figure and indeed reports have already been made that after months of lockdown, many girls have failed to go to school.

In Zimbabwe alone, more than 5 000 girls failed to return to school in 2021 after they fell pregnant in 2020, with education and girl-child activists blaming the pandemic and the lockdowns that kept them out of school for months.

Efforts by civil society organisations are much needed to ensure that girls are kept in school and that learning materials are available for them.

Mr Nyabadza expressed his gratitude to his team which he said worked tirelessly despite the fact that all work was voluntary.

“I really want to pay tribute to my team at the CNCVCT for their dedication, devotion and passion towards helping disadvantaged rural children of Zimbabwe. I want to highlight that they all work 100 percent to ensure that every penny we receive from kind hearted people around the world goes to the children we support and not to salaries. I also wish to pay tribute to Books Abroad, Scotland for their faith in us. This is the second consignment they have sent us,” he said.