HARARE – Zimbabwe drastically reduced funding for education from about US$6 per child in the first two decades of independence to a paltry $0.70 last year as political leaders diverted resources to consolidating power, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Wednesday.

In a stinging attack on President Robert Mugabe’s much vaunted achievements in education, Tsvangirai said the public school system collapsed over the past decade of political turmoil and economic crisis because of under-funding, while teachers deserted classes because of political violence.

Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government with Mugabe last year to end political crisis and pave way for economic recovery and restoration of basic services such as health and education, said children were being taught the same curriculum taught their parents 27 years ago because there had been no effort to develop new and improved curricula since 1983.

"In the first decade after independence, government committed between 20-22 percent of budget towards education, supporting infrastructure development,” said Tsvangirai, who was speaking at a ceremony in Harare to sign a 7.5 million euro (US$10.6 million) education grant from the European Commission.

“Twenty years later, government pays literally nothing towards schools per capita grant (and) teachers’ allowances are on the paltry side and worse still (teachers are) a prey for the militia," he said, referring to the pro-Mugabe youth militia that has attacked teachers as punishment for not backing the veteran leader.

Tsvangirai said where two students would share a textbook in the 80s today at least 14 percent of schools have virtually no textbooks at all.

Mugabe’s sterling achievements in public education and health during the early years of independence were for long hailed as examples of what a developing country could achieve with the right commitment from the government.

Upon taking power at Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe moved with speed to bring education to thousands of black children previously denied the opportunity by the country’s former white rulers.

By 1981 Zimbabwe boasted of free primary education for all children and a few years later, all who qualified were guaranteed admission to secondary school. In no time, Zimbabwe boasted of one of the highest literacy rates in Africa at around 90 percent of the population.

But public schools, as were government hospitals, were the hardest hit by the dramatic collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy over the past decade. The best skilled teachers and other education professionals left the country in search for better pay and living conditions abroad.

While those who remained behind spent the bulk of their time out of classrooms on strike for more pay or simply stayed home because they could not afford bus fare to work on their measly salaries.

But schools have re-openned since the power-sharing government came into office in February 2009 with promises to revive the country’s once brilliant economy.

However teachers -- who two weeks ago called off a strike for more pay to give chance to dialogue -- remain disgruntled over low salaries and there are fears the government’s reconstruction efforts in education and in other sectors could suffer a reversal unless it gets more support from the international community.

EU head of delegation in Zimbabwe Xavier Marchal said yesterday’s grant was part of the bloc's support to the Harare power-sharing government’s efforts to rebuild the country.

The grant given through the United Nations Children’s Fund will see exercise books and learning materials distributed to Zimbabwe’s more than 5000 primary schools.

Meanwhile Tsvangirai said Harare will next week put together a multi-party delegation that will work to improve relations with the EU.

“We will put in place a mission designed to further normalise relations between Europe and Zimbabwe," Tsvangirai said.

The EU and the United States have maintained humanitarian support to Zimbabwe but cut direct support to the Harare government, while maintaining visa and financial bans on Mugabe and his top allies as punishment for failure to uphold human rights and democracy.

The Harare delegation is part of measures Zimbabwe’s political parties agreed to implement during talks facilitated by South African President Jacob Zuma last week and meant to end the country’s international isolation and speed up its transition to democracy.

By Zimonline