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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

INDEPENDENT Zimbabwe’s first education Minister Dr Dzingai Mutumbuka has commended Government for investing in education reforms.

Dr Mutumbuka was Zimbabwe’s first Education and Culture Minister at independence, serving between 1980 and 1989 after which he joined the World Bank as a chairman for close to 20 years.

He chairs a network of all education ministers in Africa and funding partners and serves as a member of the governing board for Unesco’s International Institute for Educational Planning.

Dr Mutumbuka attended the just ended Strategic Choices for Education Reform in Eastern and Southern Africa which was held in Victoria Falls as a facilitator and speaker.

He said quality education is key to any country and this can be achieved through allocating enough resources to education in order to have the best teachers, learning materials, data and evaluation mechanisms.

Dr Mutumbuka said during his time, the education sector was the most funded by Treasury as the country was not under sanctions like now hence it was easy to implement strategies.

“The forum sought to deliberate on measures that can be taken to help countries achieve SDG 4 on education and focused on a wide range of issues needed in reforming education in Africa including Zimbabwe.

“To have quality education you need teachers, learning materials and classrooms as a third tier. If you have teachers who are qualified and eager to teach and children who are eager to learn and use of data and time you can have the best education system.

“I think the Minister is very clear of where they want to take the country to. They want to go back to basics which is very critical. What I don’t know is whether there is a budget for it, but on paper what they are trying to do is very commendable by way of revisiting the education system,” said Dr Mutumbuka.

He said having a system of education that lacks quality is like throwing money down the drain.

Government came up with a new education curriculum which is being implemented and due for review at the end of its five-year tenure this year.

Dr Mutumbuka said equally critical is investing in girls and women as well as in foundational skills as these are the bedrock of education.

He said teachers are the most important resource of any education system.

“Obviously teachers are expensive and Governments like Zimbabwe which are under sanctions are challenged. Teaching used to be a highly adorable profession. It’s not about money, it’s about the environment. 

“It’s difficult to incentivise teachers so that they can do their best to improve quality of education,” he said.

Dr Mutumbuka said education is an investment and has to produce returns.

He implored education authorities to invest in planning, implementation and analysis, adding that there should be indicators in education as is the case in the health sector.

Dr Mutumbuka said Government stance on promoting technical vocational education is commendable.

“It’s one area that I feel even as a minister we did not do justice to because secondary education in African today, Zimbabwe included, is failing young people because there is a chasm between what they are learning and the world of work they are going to. That gap need to be addressed,” he said. – @ncubeleon