Zimbabwe: The dream is dead

[dArKeR]

It was once celebrated as a rare African success story -- an example of what committed leadership can do. Education for all was the policy Zimbabwean authorities pursued diligently for much of the first decade since independence from Britain in 1980. The goal was to extend education to the previously disadvantaged black majority.

As a result, scores of schools were built and the training of thousands of teachers speeded up.

The investment did not take long to bear fruit -- by 2000 Zimbabwe had achieved an adult literacy rate, according to the UN Children's Fund (Unicef), of 93%, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sadly, those classroom gains are currently in jeopardy, threatened by triple digit inflation and political impenitence. One urban primary school says at least half of its more than 1 000 pupils cannot afford fees, while a government directive says learners must not be sent home.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=31170&t=1

AWOL's commitment to Africa

[rabidarab2004]

1. Mugabe

In short order, Mugabe has laid the nation of Zimbabwe to waste. Once the breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe cannot even feed its own people thanks to his policies.