“We can’t even afford toilet paper” — Education offices closing countrywide

District and provincial education offices under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education are closing countrywide with no money even to buy toilet paper, Masvingo Mirror has established.

The whole education supervisory system has ground to a halt, said a senior officer in the Ministry of Education who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is not a cent to run district and provincial education offices. There is no stationery, no toners, no fuel, no water, no electricity, not even toilet paper; schools inspectors are just sitting in their offices, they cannot go into the field,” said an authoritative source.

Dozens of workers under Better Schools Programme Zimbabwe (BSPZ) were not paid since October last year when the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion froze BSPZ bank accounts due to rampant abuse of funds by provincial and district education officers.

Although Government allocates US$800 million a year to Education through per capita grants, Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) and other facilities, there is nothing that has been dispatched in the last four to seven years.

The entire administrative functions of the Ministry are now run through payments from parents under BSPZ.

Authoritative sources told Masvingo Mirror that electricity and water was cut off at district and provincial education offices because of non-payment of bills. This means that many officers are not coming to work.

Even when some officers turn up for work, they do nothing because all cars are grounded as there is no fuel. Schools’ inspectors who average 10 per district have not been going out into the field since last year, said the sources. Even then officers’ Travel and Subsistence Allowances (T &S) for schools’ inspectors backdating to 4 years ago are not paid.

Another source told Masvingo Mirror that it was a mess at the double storey BSPZ offices in Mucheke in Masvingo recently after the City Council cut off water and Zesa switched off power. The District Schools Inspector (DSI), Ishmael Chigaba had to approach National Association of Primary School Heads (NAPH) and the National Association of Secondary School heads (NASH) to pay the water and electricity bills.

Chigaba confirmed the situation in an interview with Masvingo Mirror but refused to disclose the entity that paid the bills. He referred questions to the Provincial Education Director, Shylatte Mhike who hardly takes questions from the media.

“It is a big mess at Masvingo BSPZ offices in Mucheke. The toilets are clogged and there is no power most of the time. We were recently rescued by NAPH,” said a source.

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education spokesperson, Taungana Ndoro said everything is running smoothly because funds are being distributed to district and provincial education offices through Treasury.

However, all offices contacted and visited by Masvingo Mirror laughed of this and insisted that there has been no disbursements from treasury for more than four years now. *_-Masvingo Mirror_*

TOP PIC: Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Torerai Moyo