International Education Journal, 2005, 6(1), 65-74.

ISSN 1443-1475 © 2005 Shannon Research Press.

http://iej.cjb.net 65

Zimbabwe’s public education system reforms:

Successes and challenges
Gibbs Y. Kanyongo
School of Education, Duquesne University [email protected]

The purpose of this article is to discuss Zimbabwe’s public education system. First, the
article provides a brief look at pre-independence education in Zimbabwe. Second, it
discusses some of the reforms that took place in the Zimbabwe education system
following independence. Third, it looks at the current structure of Zimbabwe’s
education system and fourth it discusses some of the successes and challenges faced by
the education system within the context of the prevailing social, political and
economic environment.
Zimbabwe, education reforms, education system, education policy, examination system

INTRODUCTION
Soon after independence, most governments of developing countries reformed their educational
systems to align them with new national goals. Zimbabwe is one such country that embarked on
massive reforms of its education system in 1980.
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is a former British Colony formerly
known as Rhodesia1 that was annexed from the South African Company by the United Kingdom
Government in 1923. A constitution that favoured the whites in power was formulated in 1961,
and in 1965 the government unilaterally declared independence but the United Kingdom
government did not recognise it because it wanted the Rhodesian government to give more rights
to blacks. A guerrilla uprising and United Nations sanctions led to free elections and
independence in 1980, leading to the election of the government of Robert Mugabe which has
been in power until today.

PRE-INDEPENDENCE EDUCATION
After the arrival of European settlers in 1890, missionaries found it easier to spread their influence
among the indigenous people. Mission schools were the source of formal education for Africans,
with the government providing education primarily to white children. The new exchange economy
introduced by the settlers created increasing demand for education among Africans. As demand
for more education among Africans was increasing, the colonial government stepped in to control
the provision of education and ensure that missionaries would not ‘overeducate’ them (Nherera,
2000). The colonial administrators were critical of the type of education that the missionaries
provided the Africans. They felt the Africans had to be given education which was practical in
nature; that is, related to agriculture and industry to prepare them as labourers, but not to the
extent where they could compete with Europeans (Atkinson, 1972; Dorsey, 1975). According to
O’Callaghan and Austin (1977), Africans were to be given education but not equal to that given to
whites. Industrial training in African schools was limited to elementary knowledge of agriculture,
carpentry and building.

1
The country was known as Southern Rhodesia before it was just referred to as Rhodesia.
66 Zimbabwe’s public education system reforms: Successes and challenges

REFORMS OF ZIMBABWE’S PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM

According to Riddel (1998), there are many different ways that one could categorise the different
'themes' of educational reform that have been prominent in developing countries. These can be
divided broadly into three groups: (1) planning and efficiency reforms; (2) quality reforms; and (3)
curricular reforms. He also points that there are no clear boundaries among these broad groups. In
this article, educational reforms in Zimbabwe are discussed within the context of the above
categories where possible.
At independence in 1980, Zimbabwe inherited an education system that favoured mainly white2
Zimbabwean students. Prior to 1980, very few black children had access to education. Those who
had access to education found themselves in schools that were poorly funded, with very few
educational resources and a separate curriculum from that offered in all-white schools. Education
for black students was provided mainly by missionaries rather than by the government. Basically,
two school systems existed prior to independence. The colonial government made education for
white students compulsory and therefore offered universal education, spent as much as 20 times
more per white student than the black student (Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture, 2001).
The first major reform was the unification of the separate education systems to remove anomalies
and inequalities. At independence, the Government adopted a socialist principle: ‘Growth with
equity’ to redress the inequalities in access to education and other basic needs such as health
services. The government’s socialist principle was perceived through Karl Marx’s concept of
‘polytechnic education’ whose main objective was to link mental and manual work and produce
‘totally developed individuals’ (Chung and Ngara, 1985, p.89). It had been observed that the
inherited colonial education system placed undue emphasis and value on paid employment and
white-collar jobs. It failed to instil good work habits and ethics and did not prepare school leavers
for the world of work (Nherera, 2000).
Over the first decade of independence, the reforms in the education system focused on making
them suitable for Zimbabwe in line with the principle of ‘Education for all’ adopted at
independence. The government expanded the education system by building schools in
marginalised areas and disadvantaged urban centres, accelerating the training of teachers,
providing teaching and learning materials to schools. Increase in enrolments gave rise to the need
for buildings. This was managed by introducing double shifts per day, but with two different sets
of teachers, ensuring a more efficient use of existing classrooms without disturbing the existing
teacher-pupil ratio. The need and supply of teachers was met by rapidly increasing the number of
untrained teachers at primary level. Although this step provided a well-motivated teaching corps,
it led to the supply of low-quality teachers and resultant poor quality of teaching. The supply of
teachers was increased by introducing the Zimbabwe Integrated Teacher Education Course
(ZINTEC), a low-cost teacher-training scheme, whereby, only two terms of the four-year course
were spent in college and the remainder in teaching in schools.
The government involved local communities to help support schools through providing labour
and other resources. The emphasis was not so much on quality and cost effectiveness of the
education system, but on accessibility to education.
In 1988, the government formed a separate Ministry of Higher Education3 to be responsible for
tertiary education, which included teacher training colleges, universities and vocational colleges.
More and more trained teachers were supplied into the education system and this helped reduce

2
Prior to Independence, White was used to include Asians, Europeans and Coloreds (people of mixed races).
3
The Ministry of Higher Education is now known as the Ministry of Higher Education and Technology.
Kanyongo 67

the proportion of untrained teachers. All the different government strategies helped boost the
number of teachers from 18483 in 1979 to 60886 by end of the decade.
From 1990 to 2001 the reforms focused more on the relevance and quality of education and
training through new approaches to content, technologies, teaching methodologies, skills
provision and through decentralisation and devolution of technical and teachers colleges into
degree awarding institutions. According to Riddel (1998)’s categorisation, this would fall under
quality reform. The proportion of trained teachers increased dramatically during this period. In
1990, about 51.48 per cent of primary school teachers were trained and by 1997 the proportion of
trained primary school teachers had jumped to 77.2 per cent. In secondary schools, only 48.1 per
cent of the teachers were trained in 1990 and this number increased to 89 per cent by 1996.This
period also witnessed the localisation of the country’s testing programs. An Act of Parliament
created the examination board, the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (ZIMSEC) to
administer and manage all of the country’s primary and secondary education examinations. Prior
to the creation of this examination board, all the examinations were set and marked by the
University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) in the United Kingdom. Thus,
the localisation of the examinations helped cut costs by eliminating the need for foreign currency.
However, it created other challenges as discussed further in this article.
Education in Zimbabwe today aims at promoting national unity to contribute to national
development particularly, economic development through the supply of trained and skilled
teachers and staff. The aim is also to revive neglected languages and cultural values and to
develop a distinctive way of life with mutual recognition and enrichment of the diverse cultures.

STRUCTURE OF ZIMBABWE’S EDUCATION SYSTEM

Primary Education
The education system consists of primary education, secondary education and tertiary education.
The primary level is a seven-year cycle and the official entry age is six years. It runs from Grade 1
through Grade 7. Prior to Grade 1 children enrol in the early childhood education and care
(preschool). Primary education is mainly free but parents pay levies in the form of building fund
and sports fees. The curriculum is centrally planned by the Ministry of Education, Sport and
Culture’s Curriculum Development Unit (CDU). This unit designs syllabi and teaching materials.
The subjects taught in primary schools are: Mathematics; English; Shona and Ndebele
(Indigenous languages); and General Paper covering Social Studies, Environmental Science, and
Religious Education (largely based on Christianity). The teacher student ratio is one to 30 or 40,
though sometimes it can be higher than that. Most teachers in primary school hold a diploma in
teaching. However, there are untrained teachers especially in remote parts of the country where
trained teachers are unwilling serve.
At the end of Grade 7, students are tested in the four subjects. Since primary education is
compulsory and is guided by the policy of unimpeded progress, performance on the Grade 7
examination does not necessarily affect the progression of the students to secondary education.
However, some secondary schools are selective and they set selection criteria based on the Grade
7 examinations.

Secondary Education
Secondary education starts in Form 1 (Grade 8) and parents have an option to send their children
to a private boarding school (usually church-affiliated), a government boarding school or a day
school. Parents pay fees for secondary education, and boarding schools are usually very
expensive. Those who can afford it prefer to send their children to boarding schools because most
68 Zimbabwe’s public education system reforms: Successes and challenges

of them provide good quality education. The majority of students go to day secondary schools
because they are the cheapest. However, the quality of education in most day schools is poor
compared to boarding and private schools. Like primary education, the secondary curriculum is
centrally designed by the CDU in the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture.

Ordinary Level (O-Level)

Secondary education comprises a four-year O-Level cycle where the official entry age is 13 years,
and a two-year Advanced Level (A-Level) cycle. The O-Level cycle covers a wide curriculum and
different schools offer different subjects depending on the availability of resources. However,
there are core subjects that students are required to take. These subjects are: Mathematics,
English, Science, Shona or Ndebele, Geography, and History. Officially, a student should take a
minimum of eight subjects in secondary education. At the end of the four-year cycle, students sit
for the Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (ZGCE-O) examinations. A
student should pass a minimum of five subjects, which include Mathematics, English and Science.
After O-Level, a student may choose to proceed to A-Level or go to any of the following:
teacher’s training college, technical college, agricultural college, polytechnic, and nursing training
college.

Advanced Level (A-Level)

Progressing to A-Level is based on the performance on the ZGCE-O examinations. Progression is
on merit and schools set selection criteria. Only those students with good passes proceed to this
level of education. At A-Level, students major in a minimum of three subjects. The choice of
subjects is usually based on the students’ long term career goals. The subjects one picks at A-
Level will determine the degree program one will study at the university level. For example, a
student who wishes to study Law may consider subjects like English, English Literature, and
History while a student who wishes to study Engineering may consider subjects like Chemistry,
Physics and Mathematics.

Tertiary Education
Tertiary education in Zimbabwe covers all universities, technical colleges, polytechnic colleges,
teacher’s training colleges and other vocational skills training canters. Tertiary education falls
under The Ministry of Higher Education and Technology, and is not discussed in detail in this
article.

Zimbabwe’s Examination System

The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) is responsible for all examinations in
primary and secondary education, which are Grade 7 examination, Zimbabwe Junior Certificate of
Education (ZJC), Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (ZGCE O-Level)
and Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (ZGCE A-Level) examinations.
All the examinations except objective tests are marked by teachers who are trained as markers by
ZIMSEC. To qualify to be trained as markers teachers should have at least a diploma in teaching,
and some experience in the subject they intent to mark.

Grade 7 Examination
The Grade 7 examination takes place at the end of primary education. The average age of students
taking this examination is 12.5 years. The age ranges from 12 to 15 years. Students are tested in
four subjects: English, Mathematics, Shona or Ndebele, and General Paper. Students do not pay
examination fees to write this examination. Candidates receive a separate result for each subject in
the form of units on a nine-point grading scale from 1 to 9 with 1 being the highest possible grade
Kanyongo 69

and 9 being the lowest. This means students with the best results will have four units (one point in
each subject) and one with the worst results will have 36 units (nine points in each subject).
The main purpose of the Grade 7 examination is certification of the students’ level of educational
achievement. It is also used for the selection of students to secondary education especially by
private and mission schools. Some top government schools where there is stiff competition to
enter also set selection criteria based on the Grade 7 results. Many other schools, especially those
in rural areas, have a ‘mass admission’ policy regardless of the students’ results on the Grade 7
examination. This is because of the government policy of education for all, so that no student
should be denied a place for whatever reason.

ZGCE O-L Examination

The next examination takes place at the end of Form four (Grade 11). Students pay examination
fees to take this examination. This examination serves a number of purposes. First, it certifies
students’ level of educational achievement. Second, it used for selection to go to A-Level. Third,
it is also used by employers for hiring purposes as well as for admission to other institutions of
higher learning like teachers’ and nurses’ training colleges. A letter grading system is used as
follows: A, B, C, D, E, F, and U; with A being the highest grade achieved and U (Unclassified)
being the lowest. The grades are assigned for each subject, and C is the minimum acceptable
passing grade. A student should get a minimum of 5 Cs including English to have successfully
completed Ordinary level.

ZGCE A-L Examination

The final examination of the secondary school education system is the ZGCE A-L examination,
taken at the end of Form 6 (Grade 13). Results for this examination are used for: (a) certification
of student’s level of educational achievement, (b) selection to the university and other institutions
of higher learning, and (c) employment purposes. Grading of this examination is based on a
seven-letter grading system as follows: A, B, C, D, E, F (fail), and O. The O indicates that the
student produced work that is equivalent to O-Level standard.

SUCCESSES OF ZIMBABWE’S EDUCATION REFORMS

The government policies achieved successes in increasing enrolment, achieving racial as well as
gender equity in education, increasing the supply of educated manpower, and improving the
country’s literacy rate4.

Access to Education
The government made basic education accessible through policies of free education, compulsory
education and upholding children’s right to education. With a socialist philosophy, primary
education was made free and this resulted in admission rates expanding dramatically (Ministry of
Education, Sport and Culture, 2001). According to The Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture
(2001), during the first decade of independence, the number of primary schools jumped from 2401
in 1979 to 4504 in 1989, an 87.6 per cent increase and primary school enrolment showed a 177.5
per cent increase from 819,586 to 2,274,178 during the same period. The number of secondary
schools increased from 177 in 1979 to 1502 in 1989, a change of 748.6 per cent and secondary
school enrolment increased from 66,215 to 695,882 a 950.9 per cent change. The government
took steps, such as a rapid increase in public spending on education from 4.4 per cent of recurrent
public expenditures in 1979-80 to 22.6 per cent by 1980 and introducing substantial community

4
Literacy rate is defined here as the proportion of those who are 15 years or older who can read and write.
70 Zimbabwe’s public education system reforms: Successes and challenges

financing. This allowed rapid primary sector expansion, for which government resources quickly
became inadequate.

Gender Equity in Education

In 1980, the proportion of female students in primary schools was 47.6 per cent compared to 52.4
per cent males. By 1999, the proportion of females had increased to 49.1 per cent and that of
males had gone down to 50.9 per cent. This information shows that although equity has not been
completely achieved, there were significant improvements during the first two decades of
independence in making education accessible to female students. The general pattern is the same
for secondary education as it is for primary education; that is, the proportion gap between male
students and female students was narrowed during the first two decades. In 1980, about 43.3 per
cent of students were females and 56.7 per cent were males in secondary education. In 1999, the
proportion of females had increased to 46.9 per cent and that of males had gone down to 53.1 per
cent.

Racial Equity in Education

Prior to independence, schools in Zimbabwe were divided into two main categories, Group A
schools and Group B schools. Group A schools were for white students and most of these schools
were well equipped with state of the art teaching and learning facilities. Group B schools were for
black students and most were poorly funded. The government disbanded this classification system
in an effort to achieve racial equity in all schools. White and black students had the opportunity to
enrol in the same schools and receive the same education regardless of race.

Educated Manpower
The aggressive education policies by the government resulted in the country producing
professionals to work in the private sector and government. The country also became a major
source of educated manpower in Southern Africa and today Zimbabwe has thousands of teachers,
engineers, doctors, nurses, and other professionals working in neighbouring countries and
overseas. The sad part associated with this success story is that some poor economic policies by
the government created a hostile environment resulting in ‘brain drain’ of the country’s
professionals, discussed further below.

Literacy Rate
Although literacy rate is not a perfect measure of educational results, it helps especially in
international comparisons of some achievements in different education systems. According to the
United Nations Development Program (2003), the country achieved a male literacy rate of 94.2
per cent; a female literacy rate of 87.2 per cent and a total literacy rate of 90.7 per cent. Zimbabwe
ranks first in male literacy rate, second in female literacy rate and first in total literacy rate among
Southern African countries. This is important because literacy and educational access are
important as a means of improving public awareness of environmental and health issues, and
reducing family planning (International Labor Review, 1995).

CHALLENGES TO ZIMBABWE’S EDUCATION SYSTEM

The policy formulation process of the first decade after Independence was hurried and highly
centralised. The goals and targets were not put within a reasonable time frame. They were largely
an act of faith as the strategies and targets were neither well defined nor focused. These goals
were not tied to the availability of the requisite resources to achieve them. The provision of
education was therefore regarded as a compensatory act for those who had been denied the
Kanyongo 71

opportunity by successive regimes of the colonial era and as a payback to the people who had
participated in the liberation struggle to bring about independence.

Impact of the Economic Structural Adjustment Program

By the end of the 1980s, it became evident that the government’s socialist ideology adopted in
1980 was no longer suitable to the changing world and was placing a heavy financial burden on
the government. Also, the fall of communism in the late 1980s forced the government to move
towards a more capitalist society. The government had to pursue new strategies to address the
economic challenges facing the country. These strategies were prescribed by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) through the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP). This
program was adopted by the government in 1990. It helped in the liberalisation of the economy
with the consequence that many people lost their jobs as local industrial companies closed down
because of high competition from outside. The introduction of this program required the
government to cut expenditure in social services sectors including education. The government
therefore had to make the most of meagre resources to meet the educational and training needs of
a growing young population. The Zimbabwe Human Development Report (United Nations
Development Program, 2003) notes that the country’s economic performance went down since the
introduction of ESAP in 1990. Poverty has become more acute and widespread, leading to many
parents finding it difficult to afford school fees for their children.
The period 1990-96 witnessed the introduction of cost-recovery policies with regard to education
and health. The government scrapped a lot of subsidies in some basic services and commodities.
The cumulative effects of these measures on the well-being of ordinary families have been
devastating particularly concerning education of children and care of the sick. To cushion the
disadvantaged, the government introduced the Social Development Fund (SDF). This fund helps
pay school fees and examination fees to orphaned children and those whose parents are physically
disabled. It also helps those who are able but poor to afford paying for the education of their
children. This fund is too small and in most cases, because of government bureaucracy, it takes a
long time for the funds to be disbursed to schools. That means most schools continue to operate
on limited budgets.
In 1991, faced with a different socio-economic climate from the one existing in 1980, the
government amended the Education Act of 1987 (No.5/1987) to bring it in line with the new
socio-economic environment caused by the introduction of ESAP. In particular, the 1991 Act
(No.26/1991) introduced fees at the primary school level that had been tuition-free since
independence, a reversal of the principle of free and compulsory primary education enacted into
law by the 1987 Act. It is important to point out that even after this Act, rural primary education
continued to be mainly free. Decentralisation helped reduce the central government’s
administrative and financial responsibility for the educational expansion. This, however, resulted
in less financial support for those schools in poor rural areas, hence further widening the gap in
quality education between the rich and the poor.
Although rural primary education generally remained free, parents continue to be responsible for
levies to take care of buildings, school facilities and sports. These levies are beyond the reach of a
majority of parents. A lot of workers got laid off as companies tried to remain viable under the
deteriorating economic environment, inflation began to rise and teachers’ income became eroded,
schools got caught between reduced funding and increased costs of supplies. One headmaster of
an urban primary school points out that at least half of the school’s more than 1,000 pupils cannot
afford fees, while a government directive says students must not be sent home for failing to pay
fees.
72 Zimbabwe’s public education system reforms: Successes and challenges

The situation became worse by the drying up of donor support and the government was forced to
further cut costs. All these resulted in (a) general shortage of books, science equipment and other
essential learning facilities due to poor funding of schools, (b) poor students’ performance due to
lack of books and other teaching/learning resources, (c) low moral among teachers as a result of
poor salaries and other working conditions, and (d) lack of attraction and retention of qualified
teachers because of poor amenities in rural areas.
These problems facing the education system in Zimbabwe were echoed by the country’s leading
financial newspaper which noted:
The malady plaguing the local education system is fed by under-funding from the State
budget; high inflation which topped 525.8 per cent continues to eat into grants
provided by the State to schools. Low morale within the teaching profession has led to
staff exodus from the teaching profession. (Financial Gazette, 2003)
Many teachers have left the teaching profession to escape the worsening economic situation. Most
found employment in neighbouring countries and others have gone to Britain and the United
States to continue with their education. This brain drain seems to be reversing the gains attained
over the past two decades of providing trained teachers to the system.

Corruption in the Examination System

One of the major changes that took place in the 1990s was the localisation of the country’s testing
program. This was done following the setting of the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council.
Although this was a cost-cutting measure, the system faced serious challenges. One of the
problems has been the issue of the security of examinations. There have been several cases of
examination leaks, with some scripts getting lost during transportation as there is reliance on
public transportation to transport examination papers. Headmasters and teachers complain of the
sloppy conduct of examinations, which sometimes result in a mix-up of results. Some
headmasters gave examples of wrong examination scripts delivered to wrong candidates,
candidates receiving results for subjects they did not sit for, and candidates failing to receive
results for subjects they sat for. School officials pointed out that not only do the mix-ups of
examinations betray the inefficiencies within the education system, but they erode the little
confidence that the public still has in the system. Corrupt school officials unseal examination
packages before the examination date and either sell the scripts to candidates or give them to
relatives. There have been cases of examination papers sold on the black market before students
sit for the examination, and teachers writing examinations for students as noted in the Zimbabwe
Independent, a leading independent weekly newspaper:
In January the dubiety of Zimbabwe’s examinations system was exposed at Mnene
Primary School in Mberengwa. It was revealed that the school headmaster and three
teachers wrote and filled in answer sheets for dozens of Grade 7 pupils. The then
Education permanent secretary, Thompson Tsodzo declared that results of more than
fifty pupils at the school would stand as genuine. (Zimbabwe Independent, 2004)

Relevance of the Curriculum

The expansion of the education system during the 1980s led to many qualified graduates supplied
onto the job market. Sadly, this increased supply of educated manpower has not been met by an
equal or greater supply of jobs to absorb them. This has been worsened by the shrinking of the
private sector as some companies closed down and others relocated to neighbouring countries to
escape the poor economic situation. Unemployment quickly rose to unimaginable rate, about 70
per cent according to 2002 estimates. Some people in the country argue that the school curriculum
should be revamped to align it with the needs of the country’ industries. They complain that most
Kanyongo 73

students who graduate lack the requisite skills for them to be employed. Thus, people argue that
the system is failing to produce employable graduates. For example, the Presidential Commission
of Inquiry into Education and Training which was headed by one of the country’s leading
educationists, Nziramasanga (1999), recommended that the curriculum be changed to focus on
employment related skills and other essential skills. However, the government is not moving fast
enough to implement some of the commission’s recommendations, and as a result the irrelevance
of the curriculum is an issue most people still blame for the rising unemployment.

Information Technology
The promotion of technology in the school system is one area which has not been moving fast
enough. In fact, this is a problem in most developing parts of the world not just Zimbabwe. The
problem is that while most schools and other educational institutions in the industrialised
countries have ready access to computers and the internet, the same cannot be said of developing
countries. Moore (2000) notes that around 700000 in Africa (about 0.1 per cent of the population)
use basic internet service such as email. The lack of financial resources and poor infrastructure are
the main reason why it is difficult to introduce computer technology in most rural schools.
Although computers have been part of the country’s education curriculum for a long time, their
use has been limited to a few well-funded private schools and boarding schools that have
electricity. The majority of the schools do not have the basic facilities required for the use of
computer technology.

CONCLUSIONS
Lessons that can be derived from Zimbabwe’s experiences are that quality educational reform in
developing countries is difficult to achieve. The reforms that took place in Zimbabwe did not
focus on outcomes assessment. Indicators of quality education like reading achievement, writing
achievement, and test scores did not achieve sufficient attention during reforms. Much attention
was paid towards the quantity of students enrolled and their progression through the system
regardless of whether they can read and write or not. There were no standards set for students to
meet at each level of their education. It can be argued that the colonial education system produced
higher pass rates than the post-Independence education system. However, this argument should be
made within the context that the colonial education system was highly selective and only a very
small percentage of those attending primary school qualified for secondary school education. This
means the standards and quality of a colonial educational system are inappropriate for a post-
colonial system where the government believes in empowering people and serving the once
disadvantaged group of people.
Lack of financial resources to adequately fund the educational system is the main challenge and
will remain so for a long time to come. Zimbabwe, just like any other developing country relies on
donor funding for some of its educational projects. According to the Ministry of Education, Sport
and Culture (2001), about 94 per cent of the government’s allocation to the education systems
goes towards paying salaries. Only 4 per cent remains to fund development projects. These
financial constraints result in the shortage of staff and training materials thus compromising the
quality of education. With this poor funding, it is impossible to implement reforms that improve
academic achievement, and proficiency and hence provide quality education.
74 Zimbabwe’s public education system reforms: Successes and challenges

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