- Dear Family and Friends,
-
- One week into the new school term my 11 year old son,
along with 30,000 other Zimbabwean children was still sitting at home.
His school was one of 45 private schools that were not allowed to open
this week under orders from the Ministry of Education. It has been the
week from hell which began for me a little before 5pm on Monday the 3rd
of May. My son's friend is a border and I was to drop him at the school
hostel late in the afternoon. We arrived to find the hostel gates closed
and children and parents milling around outside in the gathering dusk.
There were many desperate faces and raised voices. A man came to the window
of my car and said "You are not allowed in, the school is closed."
He handed me a letter signed by the Headmistress which read:" Under
direction from the Minister of Education in Harare, the police have closed
our school down. We do not know when we will be allowed to open."
It took some persuading to get the man at the gate to let me in to collect
a trunk, bedding and tuck (sweets and food) which had been left at the
school earlier that day. The order to close the school had only been made
late in the afternoon, hours after many children had been dropped off by
parents.
-
- I drove away in shock, my heart pounding, tears in my
eyes. This felt like that day in February 2000 when war veterans had come
to our farm gate and announced that this was now their farm. I had to
stop the car half way home, not to pull myself together but to tell my
son and his friend to stop raiding the sweets they had extricated from
the school trunk! By Wednesday the propaganda had reached hateful levels.
Education Minister Chigwedere said that he had closed "racist schools"
which "throw Africans out simply by hiking their fees". He did
not say that the enrolment of Zimbabwe's private schools is made up of
80% black children or that virtually all Zimbabwe's government ministers
and civil servants send their children to private schools. He did not
say that President Mugabe's own children attend private schools in Zimbabwe.
He did not say that school fees have gone up because of hyper-inflation.
As it is with everything in Zimbabwe, clearly it was easier to not address
the real issues and their causes but to yet again play that ugly racist
card.
-
- On Wednesday the Headmistress of my son's school was
arrested, at night, from a prayer group meeting and spent the night in
a police cell. She heads a small non-profit making Christian school which
has only 7 white children in its entire establishment. The school was
still closed and two policemen continued to patrol the road in front of
the school's closed gates. Driving past the Marondera Police Station my
son and I saw our town's only anaesthetist, who is also the Chairman of
the Board of Trustees of Richard's school, locked in an open holding cell
in the police camp, he too had been arrested. I was crying and my son's
lip was quivering. "What have my school done wrong Mum? Why don't
they like us?" he asked, "It's just like on the farm again.
What are we going to do Mum?" I could not answer any of his questions.
-
- This scene was being played out across Zimbabwe and as
the Minister yelled "racism" the children became more and more
traumatized. All private schools were told that unless they signed a "Certificate
of Compliance" in which they agreed to a number of regulations, including
massively reduced school fees, they would be taken over by the government
and nationalized. This comes at a time when Zimbabwe's inflation hovers
at around 600%, electricity charges have gone up by 400%, rates and water
by 500% and in the same week as the price of a loaf of bread went up by
50%.
-
- The closure of Zimbabwe's private schools has nothing
whatsoever to do with the colour of our children's skins. It also has
nothing whatsoever to do with the school fees which are only increased
if a majority of the parent body agree to the rises, which they had done.
The closure of Zimbabwe's private schools has everything to do with red
herrings, smoke screens and politics. 30 000 children who can afford to
go to school were denied their basic human right to do so this week. Hundreds
of thousands of other children who cannot afford to go to either private
or government schools continue to play on our streets. Some used to go
to farm schools which ceased to exist when farms were taken over. Others
used to go to government schools but with inflation at 600%, food comes
before reading and writing. The private schools will re-open but on unsustainable
budgets and none of us know how long they will be able to pay their bills
or keep their teachers.
-
- Until next week,
-
- with love, cathy.
-
- Copyright cathy buckle 8th May 2004.
-
- http://africantears.netfirms.com
-
- My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears"
and "Beyond Tears" are available outside Africa from: orders@africabookcentre.com
; www.africabookcentre.com ; www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand:
johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: www.kalahari.net www.exclusivebooks.com
|
