Quality
education can be defined as the quest to ensure that students achieve decent
learning outcomes and acquire values and skills that will help them to play a
positive role in society. Quality
education should then be conceptualized as the desirable changes that would
lead to an excellent student learning outcomes since the pride and stability of
any country depends on quality of students produced at all levels of the
educational system. The quality of
education is always considered as an important factor in the development of any
nation because high quality educational systems helps individuals to achieve
their own economics, social and cultural objectives in the society as stated by
The Educational Forum (2000).
According
to UNICEF (2000), quality education can be viewed and grouped into categories,
for instant socially, politically and economically. It can also be indicated by high literacy
rates of a country. A good example is in
Zimbabwe the level of literacy is rated 90%.
Zimbabwe is peaceful due to its educated people; they don’t want war and
conflict compared to South Africa where strikes occur almost every day. In Zimbabwe during 1980 there was education
for all which empowered all black Zimbabweans to free access to education, thus
observing quality education compared to South Africa again which attained
independence very late and had a high percentage of apartheid which deprived
quality education to its citizens. The
black South African ended up composing a film called Sarafina which showed
their thriving for quality of education during the apartheid era. If a country
is at peace the chances of sending children to school are very high because
there won’t be having interruptions. In
Nigeria quality of education has been compromised due to continuous conflicts
and fighting. The Bokoharam rebels are
targeting schools and social gatherings like churches, killing and abducting
young and innocent children.In 2014
they abducted 200 girls of which it took more than 2 years to be released.Quality
education can be viewed through efficient access to health facilities. In
Zimbabwe in 2008 during the outbreak of cholera where UNICEF managed to provide
medicine and rescued many families.
UNICEF contributed to the realization of quality education in Zimbabwe.
In Liberia, Sudan and Nigeria quality education has been hampered by the deadly
disease of Ebola which is killing a lot of children, teachers and parents,
leaving many homes child headed and homeless.
Poverty
during year 2000, through Structural Adjustment Programme in Zimbabwe hit hard
on health, education and agricultural subsidies. This compromised to education for all, lack
of employment, not able to send children to school and failing to provide for
them resulting in poor quality education.
The land reform programme also had an effect on the quality of
education. About 400 000 people relocated, there were no schools and hospitals
in the newly resettled areas exposing children to hazards and depriving them of
their right to education and health.
Teachers of specialized subjects like Science and Maths migrated to
neighbouring countries compromising to the quality of education in
Zimbabwe. Matabeleland South and
Masvingo had a large number of dropouts due to their close distance with the
border leaving children and the old fending for themselves whilst the able
bodied migrated.
Children’s
participation in different programmes and projects is an indicator of quality
education. In Zimbabwe the youths
benefited from the Indigenization programme and recently the ZIMASSET where
they are empowered to be entrepreneurs.
Children are no longer forced to do subjects which they don’t want,
instead there is consultation between the parent and the child. We also have
the Junior Parliament where children are represented by a Junior President and Counselors
in Zimbabwe.
According
to Chitty (2002), high levels of information and communication technology
(ICT), is an important indicator of quality education. Its role in everyday life is becoming
increasingly important, as they allow us to develop new approaches to learning,
life, work, consumption and leisure. The
President of Zimbabwe has encouraged the use of computers by donating them to
different primary, secondary schools, and universities and has encouraged the
training of teachers from all subject areas in the necessary skills. At Midlands State University quality
education has been necessitated by online registration and electronic student
cards which have made easy access in the payment of fees and also there is a
provision of e-learning services.
Reading
and writing is also a quality of education indicator whereby the ability to
read and understand texts is a basic requirement for learning and for personal
development and social integration. In
Zimbabwe this has resulted in children who are in grades zero able to read due
to the curricular and syllabus by the Ministry of Education and Culture which
thrives in the provision of quality education from the basis.Diverse
language learning and examinations is an indicator for quality education. A
proficiency in several community languages has become a prerequisite. There seems to be a relationship between a
country’s official language and the ability of its young people to speak
another language (UNESCO: 2010). Children are motivated to learn other languages
than just having a dominant language. In
Zimbabwe there is need to learn Chinese because of our Look East Policy which
makes us interact more with the Chinese people.
The environment should be gender sensitive for a schooling environment,
free from discrimination.
Less
dropout rates in schools is an indicator of quality education as those who drop
often have neither basic skills nor vocational training and will face problems
in finding jobs postulated by Pigozzi (2004). Drop outs in schools can be contributed
by the deadly disease of HIV/Aids which kills the breadwinners of the families.
Most drop outs end up doing manual jobs, house maids and even becoming thieves
due to lack of education. Some drop outs
end up in streets, begging for food and basic needs which disrupts the
recognition of quality education in a country. Some of these dropouts will be
the ones taking care of the sick in the family. Thus, will not be able to
attend school and chances of abuse are high.According
to USAID (2006), parental participation and involvement in children’s education
also plays an important part in improving the running of the school and quality
of the children’s education. It is the right of a child to be provided for and
availed the basic human needs by the parents.
Parents should also create an enabling environment which protects a
child from harm for example sexual abuse.
Parents may participate voluntarily or through direct involvements in
educational activities or via advisory bodies, voluntary associations or
after-school clubs (Human Development Network :2002).
The
teacher training levels in a country is an indicator of quality education where
students are being taught by qualified teachers who have the expertise in the
field of teaching. In Zimbabwe temporary
teachers have been removed and replaced by graduates and retired teachers who
have the experience in education.
Teacher training colleges have seen the graduations of many teachers
every year. This has reduced the number
of unqualified teachers in most schools contributing to the quality of
education offered in schools (The Herald: 2013).The
ratio of teacher to student also indicates the quality of education. Those schools which are not congested tend to
produce better quality results than those with many children in a class states
Hawes etal (1990). This gives time and
opportunity for the teacher to know the weaknesses of each student in class and
offer the necessary remedy. According to
the Ministry of Education a class should have thirty (30) students per teacher
inorder to realize quality education.The
establishment of a vibrant school development association or committee in the
running of the school is an indicator of quality education. This results in the transparency and
accountability by the involvement of teachers and parents. It is the SDA/SDC to
see the efficient and effective running around of the school development.
Completion
of higher and tertiary education also indicates the quality of education. The rates of completion are important
indicators of successful education systems.
The pupils’ success cannot be considered in isolation from the rest of
the country’s economic situation, states Combs (1985). The principle challenges are to increase
people’s motivation and give them a better understanding of the connection
between theoretical learning and practical activities and to encourage pupils
to take a greater interest in lifelong learning.According
to UNICEF (2000), the number of students per computer indicates quality education. Schools must be able to provide a sufficient
number of computers inorder for students to learn to use computers
effectively. This also applies to the
pupil text book ratio whereby UNICEF donated books to schools and now pupils no
longer share text books like before. The
ration of text books per child is now one book per student in Zimbabwe.
According
to MacBeath (1999) financial resource allocation on education is an indicator
of quality education. There should be a
budget allocation for the Ministry of Education. It is a key decision for national governments
and also an investment with long-term returns that makes a significant impact
on key sectors such as social cohesion, international competition and
sustainable growth. In Zimbabwe,
Ministry of Education and Culture is one of the ministries allocated a high
budget every year inorder to provide quality education in schools. In Scotland ,
local authorities fund school rebuilding programmes through public-private
partnerships.
Participation
in pre-primary education is an indicator of quality education. It plays an important part in children’s
emotional and cognitive development facilitates, the transition from playful
learning to formal learning and contributes to children’s success at school, (UNESCO:
2003). Pre-primary education concerns
children of at least three years of age, must be provided by adequately trained
staff. In Zimbabwe there are now trained
teachers in Early Child Development (ECD) or Zero Grade whereby young children
of the age of five start learning in formal schools.
Civic
rights awareness also indicates the quality of education. Preparation of young people for citizenship
also involves giving them a civil culture based not only on the principles of
democracy, equality and freedom but also on the recognition of rights and duties
states Government of Botswana National Development Plan 9, (2002). It should not be difficult in promoting
social and cultural diversity and the need to make teachers more aware of the
importance of the role in students’ development as citizen. Cultural activities have managed to send students
to different countries as social interaction, for example Miss World, Miss
Tourism and Miss Zimbabwe.
The
World Bank (2002), states that the availability of good infrastructure is also
an indicator because if disasters occur they will be easily managed. Children need to be protected and prevented
from possible disasters. They should be dealt with before hand to avoid
hindrances on the child’s rights. School
buildings, roads and bridges contribute to the quality of education
offered. Pupils who come from home
should not find it impossible to go to school especially during rainy seasons
where bridges flood and they fail to cross them. Good infrastructure also motivates children
and parents to continue guarding against offenders.
Freedom
of participation and expression indicates the quality of education. If children are provided for and protected in
their environments they are free to participate and feel part of the society. They also bring necessary contributions which
leads to the development of a nation.
They become free to report abuses and victimization in societies.According
to UNESCO (2010) quality education should provide a child with a better quality
of life, access to opportunities leading to productive life, potential to find answers to problems,
peaceful nation, knowledge and respect
of history, culture, music and the environment in which a child lives, a healthy lifestyle, quality in
relationships, family and community life and acknowledgement of financial management
for life after school though there are barriers to provision of quality
education especially in developing countries like lack of employment, an unrealistic teacher to student ratio, poor salaries and conditions of service, lack of resources for students to acquire
numeracy and literacy skills, poor
infrastructure which doesn’t meet the needs of students and staff and in
adequate qualifications of teachers.
In
conclusion, quality of education in
Zimbabwe is going down due to a number of factors as the curriculum which is too deep for local
student examinations, the education system is suffering from the lack of
unqualified teachers. There are 20 000
unqualified teachers in the Ministry of Education. The quality of education in
Zimbabwe is being compromised by the responsible ministry which is interfering
too much in the affairs of learning for example the banning of extra lessons
for exam sitting classes. It is also imperative for the curriculum of students
to contain practical subjects which promotes psychomotor learning which might
be a solution than academic.
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UNICEF New York.
Chitty, C.,(2002) Understanding Schools and Schooling,
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Coombs,P. H. (1985)The World Crises in Education: The View from the Eighties,
Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Government of Botswana National Development Plan 9 (2002), Gaborone, Botswana.
Hawes, H.and Stephens,D. (1990) Questions of Quality: Primary Education and
Development, Harlow, Longman.
Herald, 13 October 2013
Human Development Network and World Bank, ((2002),World bank strategy in the
education
sector: Process, product and progress, International Journal
of
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MacBeath,J., Meuret, D., Schratz, M,
and L.,Jakobsen,(1999)Evaluating
quality in school
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