Teachers Slam Government For Blocking Citizens from Helping Build Schools
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has criticised the government for frustrating citizens who want to contribute to the development of infrastructure at schools because they are viewed as a threat to the ruling establishment.
This follows the withdrawal of the Citizens Initiative (CI) from the Chingwizi project, where they had raised funds to build classroom blocks at Chingwizi Primary School.
In a statement, ARTUZ questioned why the government is obstructing donors from constructing schools when the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has acknowledged that Zimbabwe faces a shortage of over 3,000 schools and that the infrastructure in existing schools is in a deteriorating condition. ARTUZ said:
The Permanent Secretary of [Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education] appeared in Parly bemoaning the underfunding of education.
He confessed that the Ministry has limited funding for capital expenditure. Zimbabwe has a shortage of over 3000 schools and infrastructure on existing schools is in bad shape.
[ZANU PF] can still afford to block infrastructure development. Donations of elite luxuries for the ruling elites are never blocked but a classroom for sons and daughters of peasants is viewed as a threat.
State institutions only serve the rich and the powerful. The poor are on their own.
On Friday, CI leader Freeman Chari said that the decision to walk away from the Chingwizi project was prompted by bureaucratic hurdles.
Despite being cleared by provincial authorities to proceed, the project faced setbacks after Dr Pazvakavambwa, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President in Masvingo, imposed new conditions during a meeting on 03 December.
According to Chari, Dr Pazvakavambwa requested that CI register as a Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO), a process that involves several additional requirements and considerable delays. He also instructed that CI channel its resources through the local Council.
After consulting with the CI board, Chari announced that the organisation would withdraw from the project and donate the materials already purchased to Chingwizi Primary School.
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