HARARE, 20 October 2008 (IRIN): The collapse of Zimbabwe’s education system, once heralded as sub-Saharan Africa’s finest, is being compared to a situation usually experienced by countries at war.
– It is difficult to imagine the meltdown in the education sector happening in a country that is at peace. You only see this kind of degeneration in countries that are experiencing civil strife or a full-fledged war, Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), told IRIN.
– When Zimbabwe attained its independence 28 years ago, the new government inherited an education infrastructure that had been ravaged by war and it was almost like starting afresh, but children managed to attend classes, teachers taught, and examinations were written. Virtually all that has stopped, he said.
Zimbabwe’s economic slide began in earnest in 2000 and the country is now battling an official annual inflation rate of 231 million percent and unemployment of more than 80 percent, with the prospect that more than 5 million people – nearly half the population – will need food assistance in the first quarter of 2009, according to the UN.
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