The quest for quality education.

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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