Marginalisation comes up as 18 Binga schools recor...

Marginalisation comes up as 18 Binga schools record 0% pass rate

Zim Now Writer

About 18 schools in Binga, Matabeleland North Province, recorded a zero percent pass rate at Ordinary Level 2022 examinations, with teachers’ unions accusing government of failing to provide marginalised communities with free education, a development they said reflected inequality in the country.

Chisizya, Gwatagwata, Manyanda, Katete, Lubanda, Saba, Zambezi and Zumanana secondary schools, are among the schools in the region, which recored a zero percent pass rate.

The others are Simbala, Msenampongo, Sinampande, Siabindi, Nakaluba, Chasamba, Muchesu, Sinakomba, Masibitha and Ntivule secondary schools.

Teachers said the current curriculum was hinged on Information Communication Technology, implying that the failure was not unusual, as most rural schools lacked on ICTs.

“At a time when government has made computers compulsory in the updated curriculum, 75 percent of primary schools and 65 percent of secondary schools in rural areas have no electricity or alternative power.

“This is not to talk of computers that are hardly in any school.

“Fundamentally, it is a warped approach to make ICT compulsory in schools when the schools have no plans of implementing this or making this a reality,” said Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou.

“There is, therefore, a marked departure from educational policies and reality in schools. There are no textbooks in schools, while equalisation funds that used to be given to rural schools for some modicum of infrastructural development have long stopped, and it is government’s responsibility to revive this.”

On the other hand, Educators Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Tapedza Zhou said: “In Zimbabwe, most areas with better educational facilities had received attention since the colonial times and have had the same standards improved after independence. Areas like Binga have, for most of the time, been neglected to continue with their own culture. They are lagging in terms of education.”