THERE we have it.
Government itself is to blame for the crisis in Zimbabwe’s education sector.
For years, it has buried its head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich — denying, deflecting and scapegoating instead of addressing the root problems.
Whenever teachers protest against poor working conditions and meagre salaries, government is quick to accuse them of destabilising the sector.
Yet, all along, the real destabiliser has been government’s own neglect.
Parliament’s latest findings have now laid bare what educators and parents have long known: The rot is systemic and responsibility lies squarely with those in power.
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For years, teachers have pleaded with their employer to restore their salaries to pre-October 2018 levels, when their pay could still sustain a decent standard of living.
Instead, they have been met with hostility, empty promises and piecemeal allowances.
Demoralised teachers mean demoralised learners.
Quality education cannot survive when those tasked with delivering it are struggling to make ends meet.
On the other hand, schools have been crippled by government’s chronic failure to release Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) funds on time.
These resources are supposed to help disadvantaged pupils to access education, but late disbursement throw schools into financial disarray, leaving institutions unable to plan or meet day-to-day expenses.
The result is a fragile education system constantly lurching from one crisis to another.
The recent report by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education is damning.
It reveals that the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec), the body responsible for running national examinations, is grappling with severe financial and infrastructural challenges. According to the report, Zimsec urgently requires US$4 million to establish a secondary processing line and back-up equipment suite — investments that are critical to ensuring uninterrupted printing and marking of examinations.
Without this, the credibility of the entire examination system is at risk.
Worse still, government arrears stood at US$71 million as of March 2025, inclusive of Beam debts.
This figure alone demonstrates a shocking lack of seriousness in funding the sector.
How can a government claim to value education when it allows such massive arrears to pile up while learners face the possibility of disrupted learning and examinations?
The contrast could not be starker.
Top-of-the-range vehicles — most likely procured using Beam funds — continue to swarm government office parking lots, while schools lack chalk, textbooks and reliable infrastructure.
Luxury for the few has been prioritised over the future of millions of Zimbabwean children.
This is not just bad governance — it is a betrayal of the nation’s future.
The consequences of this neglect extend far beyond classrooms.
An underfunded and unstable education system produces under-prepared graduates who struggle to compete in the global economy.
It widens inequality, locking poor families in generational cycles of poverty.
It undermines national development by weakening human capital — the very resource Zimbabwe needs to drive industrialisation, innovation and growth.
Other countries have recognised education as the engine of progress and invested accordingly.
Rwanda, for example, has consistently prioritised education as part of its national development strategy, investing heavily in teacher training, technology and infrastructure.
The results are visible in improved literacy, rising enrolment and a reputation for educational innovation.
Zimbabwe, once a regional leader in literacy, is now sliding backwards because of poor prioritisation.
Finger-pointing at teachers will not solve this crisis.
The government must acknowledge that its neglect is the primary cause of the education sector’s woes.
It must urgently mobilise resources to settle arrears, strengthen Zimsec’s capacity, pay teachers a living wage and release Beam funds on time.
Above all, it must reorder its priorities — placing classrooms, not car parks, at the centre of national investment.
There is no development without education.
There is no prosperity without preparing the next generation with the skills and knowledge to compete.
Zimbabwe cannot afford to treat its children’s future as an afterthought while lavishing scarce resources on luxuries for the political elite.
The truth is unavoidable: government’s neglect has become the biggest undoing of the education sector.
Until that changes, the dream of building a thriving, knowledge-based economy will remain just that — a dream.