Zimbabwe’s education system is in crisis. Across the country, millions of learners, parents, and teachers are trapped in a cycle of neglect, underfunding, and systemic breakdown. The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) is raising the alarm, calling on government to urgently realign education priorities with the Constitution and SADC equity benchmarks.
The learning environment has become a daily reminder of inequality. Today, 67% of schools lack adequate classrooms, forcing children to learn under trees or in overcrowded makeshift structures. In rural areas, 40% of schools still have no access to safe water, while only 12% are disability-friendly, locking out thousands of learners with special needs.
With a growing school-age population, at least 3,000 new schools are urgently needed to meet demand. Instead of progress, learners face unsafe infrastructure, long distances, and inhospitable conditions that compromise their right to quality education.
Teachers are the backbone of education, but they are fleeing the system at an alarming rate. In 2023 alone, 4,500 teachers resigned, and projections for 2024 suggest this number may rise to 15,000. With an average salary of just USD $300/month, teachers are earning below the poverty line.
This has created a vicious cycle: poorly paid teachers are demoralised, classrooms are understaffed, and learners suffer. ARTUZ warns that unless government implements a salary adjustment framework worth $850 million per year, the teacher exodus will cripple the entire system. For learners, the odds are stacked against success. Nearly 30% of girls miss school regularly due to lack of sanitary products, while marginalised districts continue to record pass rates below 40%.
Dropouts are surging, 50,000 learners left school in 2024, and between 2020 and 2024, at least 128,000 children failed to progress beyond Grade 7. In total, almost 3 million children remain out of school, robbed of their constitutional right to education.
ARTUZ is not just highlighting the crisis, we are proposing clear, costed solutions:
Equitable Resource Allocation: Establish an Education Equalisation Fund to bridge urban-rural divides, fund a decentralised sanitary pads program, and create a disability adaptation fund.
Curriculum Transformation: Properly roll out the heritage-based curriculum with structured teacher training, centralised digital and offline learning content, and an ambitious STEM program through 9,800 ward-level STEM hubs and mobile labs.
Teacher Sustainability: Review salaries and retention mechanisms to halt attrition. Estimated cost: $850 million per year.
Learner Protection: Launch a National Feeding Program, prioritising drought-prone areas, and create education grants to cover ZIMSEC fees, levies, uniforms, and stationery.
ARTUZ insists the money is there, it is a question of priorities. Revenue sources include:
Ring-fencing 10% of mining royalties for education.
Introducing a tax-exempt education bond to mobilise diaspora funding.
Reallocating 10% of security votes (~$180 million).
Safeguards must include a Public Education Finance Management System (PEFMS), parliamentary oversight, and civil society-led budget tracking to stop corruption and mismanagement.
ARTUZ demands that government:
Allocate at least 20% of the national budget to education (up from the current 12.3%).
Address unfunded infrastructure gaps, currently 87% of MoPSE requests go unfunded.
Halt teacher attrition, which now exceeds replacements by 37%.
Align Zimbabwe with SADC education equity benchmarks.