Source: Cash crunch paralyses education offices -Newsday Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE’S public education system is facing mounting financial pressure, with district offices struggling to perform basic administrative duties amid shortages of stationery, printing supplies, and other essentials, exposing widening funding gaps in the sector.
The crisis highlights a deeper structural problem: district education offices, which are expected to operate through allocations from the national budget, have increasingly relied on the now-suspended Better Schools Programme of Zimbabwe (BSPZ) to meet routine operational costs. With BSPZ funds frozen amid corruption investigations, officials say basic services — from printing official correspondence to auditing schools — are being disrupted, raising questions over the sustainability of the sector’s current funding model.
The funding crisis has become so severe that the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) is set to petition Parliament tomorrow, demanding increased public financing for education under its Go Public, Fund Education campaign.
Education officials who spoke to NewsDay on condition of anonymity, citing fears of victimisation, said several district offices were operating under severe resource constraints, with some unable to print official documents due to shortages of bond paper, printer toner, and ink for official stamps.
“We can no longer print letters for our stakeholders because we do not have bond paper or toner for printers,” one official said. “In many cases, we ask clients to photocopy or print the documents themselves because we simply do not have the resources. The lack of funding is taking a serious toll on our work.”
The officials said the situation had worsened following the suspension of BSPZ, a national education initiative launched in 1993 to strengthen teacher capacity, improve school management and enhance learning through decentralised school clusters.
The programme was suspended after the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion froze BSPZ bank accounts while investigating the alleged abuse of funds by some provincial and district education officials.
Officials said the suspension removed a critical source of operational funding for district offices, leaving them struggling to meet routine administrative requirements.
One official said resource shortages were also delaying investigations into alleged financial abuse in schools, as auditors faced challenges travelling to verify reported cases.
“There are several reports of suspected abuse of school funds that remain unattended. The normal procedure is for auditors to first verify the allegations before disciplinary or legal action can be taken,” the official said.
“However, the availability of auditors has become a major challenge because of limited resources, resulting in many cases remaining unresolved for long periods.”
However, Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro dismissed claims that district offices were operating without funding, saying the government had recently released allocations through provincial accounts.
“Some people may not be telling the truth because the ministry is providing funding,” he said.
“Budget releases were made recently through provincial accounts. It is not correct to say there are no resources at all. They may simply not be making proper follow-ups on their allocations.”
On concerns over delays in school audits, Ndoro said schools were not expected to finance audit teams.
“No school should fund auditors because that would compromise their independence,” he said.
“The government assigns auditors and caters for their travel and subsistence allowances.
“Provincial or head offices deploy them and provide the necessary funding.
“If there are delays, it is not because schools are expected to pay them.”
Teacher unions, however, said the challenges facing district offices reflected deeper problems in the financing of public education.
Zimta secretary-general Goodwill Taderera said education should be funded directly through the national budget rather than relying on external programmes such as the BSPZ.
“The ministry must ensure that funds released by the Treasury reach district offices so that officials are not forced to burden schools and members of the public with the costs of photocopying, printing, and other basic administrative expenses,” Taderera said.
“On Tuesday, Zimta will petition Parliament under the Education International-led Go Public, Fund Education campaign. Ironically, this year education received an increased allocation from the central government, yet district offices are still experiencing serious operational challenges”.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said the proliferation of fundraising initiatives in schools showed that government had failed to adequately finance education. “Most of these fundraising programmes were created as a response to a funding crisis,” Majongwe said.
“The solution is for the government to fund education holistically. District offices should not be looking for money from poor communities to perform basic administrative functions.
“It is unfortunate that poor schoolchildren are effectively subsidising the running of the education system.” Majongwe said Zimbabwe has sufficient resources to properly fund education. “We cannot continue witnessing extravagance and opulence at the national level while government offices cannot afford basic necessities such as stationery, printing paper, and office supplies,” he said.
“This funding crisis creates fertile ground for corruption and unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks because officials are forced to improvise with the little resources available.”