The Sunday News
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
AT least 3 000 schools are needed in the country to add to the current 10 108 so as to close the yawning gap between the national learner population of 4.8 million and the number of schools amid calls for more public – private partnerships in the sector.
Speaking at a stakeholder meeting last week, Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Cde Edgar Moyo said the infrastructure gap in the education sector was a cause for concern as some schools have become very difficult to manage while in some cases learners travel painful distances to schools. The gap, he offered, was supposed to be closed through public – private partnerships.
He said the education infrastructure was a low hanging fruit that could be exploited by investors with very good returns and no red tape.
“As a country we need at least 3 000 schools to close the gap we have in terms of education infrastructure. With this number, we can decongest what we call mega schools so that we reduce numbers for them to be manageable. These schools will also reduce the distance travelled by our pupils because we still have some who travel long distances,” said Deputy Minister Moyo
With a population of 4.8 million primary and secondary pupils, the country falls short of boarding facilities which have a capacity to absorb only 24 000 pupils. Cde Moyo said Zimbabweans should invest in the sector cognisant of the fact that public – private partnerships have a role in infrastructure development.
“In this country we have 4.8 million learners and a total of 10 108 schools and about 130 000 teachers. In that matrix, infrastructure has become a very bad area where we are short of many schools, about 3 000 that we need to alleviate the situation. We therefore encourage private players to invest in the education system as our Education Act provides for that. As such, the citizens of Zimbabwe must see an opportunity in education and start developing infrastructure to meet the requirements and ensure a conducive environment for our children,” he said.
He said there were opportunities in boarding schools’ infrastructure as a lot of people in the diaspora want to enrol their children in boarding facilities.
“Our boarding schools are the most affected. We only have about 24 000 boarding places per year at any given time. This means that we are critically short of boarding places. We have people in the diaspora who want their children to learn at these boarding facilities. As such we encourage private players and other investors to come on board and invest in education infrastructure,” said Deputy Minister Moyo.
He said infrastructure development had been the hallmark of the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa who has been calling for citizens to play a key role in the development of the country through the philosophy “nyika inovakwa nevene vayo, ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo.”
Public – private partnerships involve a contract between a public-sector authority and a private party, in which the private party provides a public service or project and assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risk in the project.– @nyeve14
