“It is my wish to see raising of awareness on education being done all year round,” Lydia Madyirapanze Education Coalition of Zimbabwe (ECOZI) Board Chairperson

Yesterday Bangari Secondary School in Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe hosted Zimbabwe’s Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) commemorations where Lydia Madyirapanze the Education Coalition of Zimbabwe (ECOZI) Board Chairperson uttered her Network’s ASKs for this year’s celebrations.

This year’s theme for the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) is, “Decolonizing Education financing,” meaning changing the power dynamics between national governments and international donors, lenders, and financial institutions – making sure national governments, in consultation with their citizens, are in the driving seat of shaping education reforms.

Education has been chronically underfunded across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces hence the Education Coalition of Zimbabwe (ECOZI) Board Chairperson, Lydia Madyirapanze was clear in the coalition’s ASKs in line with this year’s theme.

“We call upon the Government:
1. To implement basic state-funded education.
2. Create a national education fund for basic education so that we have a basic state-funded education.
3. Improve the management and disbursement of the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM)
4. increase the allocation of finance towards the tuition in grant aid and for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) together with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to increase allocation towards Education.

She also shared on how the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, related to the right to education, will not be realized by 2030 without a significant and well-targeted increase in financing. Most importantly she highlighted the need to be considerate of how increasing education financing will not benefit all.

“It is not enough to increase education financing only, it is also not directly impactful to those that are at greater risk of being left behind including rural communities, people with disabilities, minority and ethnic groups, youth, women, internationally displaced people, asylum seekers, and refugees.”

However, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) Evelyn Ndlovu in her speech read on her behalf, said government has provisions in place for state-funded education that will be implemented in phases as of this year.

“The second republic has among its mandate, the provision of a basic state-funded education to its school-going children implemented through a phased approach beginning this year in 2023.”

The GAWE Campaign marks its 20th anniversary with this year’s commemorations embracing the slogan “Investing in a Just World: Decolonising Education Financing Now!” with a special call to the governments to comply with the Transformative Education Summit Call to Action on Financing agreed by the Heads of State that attended the summit in September 2022.