The collapse of our education system is Zimbabwe’s silent killer

Understandably, over the past few months, our attention as a nation has been largely consumed by the deplorable state of our public healthcare system—a matter of life and death for many Zimbabweans.

With emergency services virtually non-existent, public hospitals starved of essential medications, and critical equipment like dialysis and cancer machines out of service, it is entirely understandable that national attention has been focused on this crisis.

Patients are forced to buy even the most basic items, while also paying private laboratories for tests and scans—an unbearable burden on already struggling families.

However, in our rightful concern over these life-threatening conditions, we may have overlooked another silent catastrophe—one that threatens the very future of our nation: the rapid and tragic collapse of our education system.

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This decline is even more heartbreaking when we remember where we once stood.

After attaining independence in 1980, Zimbabwe quickly gained global admiration for its aggressive investment in public education.

The government prioritized schooling, building thousands of new primary and secondary schools across the country, especially in rural areas that had been neglected during colonial rule.

Universal access to education became a pillar of national development.

Teacher training colleges were expanded, and the number of qualified teachers soared.

Education was not only affordable but often free, with textbooks and other learning materials provided by the state.

By the late 1990s, Zimbabwe had one of the highest literacy rates in Africa—peaking at over 90%—and its professionals, particularly in the fields of medicine, engineering, and education, were highly sought after across the globe.

Zimbabwean teachers were respected throughout southern Africa; our nurses and doctors found employment in Europe, the United States, and beyond due to the strength of their training and competence.

The country had become a beacon of educational excellence on the continent.

But that golden era is long gone.

Education in Zimbabwe has been in freefall for years, marked by chronic underinvestment and a clear lack of political will.

The vast majority of children in this country have had their futures stolen by a government that appears more concerned with retaining power and accumulating personal wealth than investing in national development.

The looting of public resources that should have gone towards schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, and clean water, continues to feed the lavish lifestyles of those in power while ordinary citizens are plunged deeper into despair.

The consequences of this neglect are glaring.

In rural Zimbabwe, where more than 60 percent of the population resides, many schools remain without electricity or internet access.

These are the very basics required for any meaningful 21^st-century education, yet our children are being left behind.

Most schools lack textbooks, with some learners forced to share a single book among five or more pupils.

In some cases, lessons are conducted under trees or in makeshift and dangerously dilapidated classrooms.

There are no science or ICT laboratories, and furniture is a luxury many have never known—students sit on the floor, stones, or makeshift benches.

This is the reality for millions of Zimbabwean children.

To make matters worse, teachers—who are supposed to be the backbone of the education system—are poorly paid, overworked, and demoralized.

Particularly in rural areas, their living conditions are appalling.

It is no surprise, then, that most qualified teachers avoid taking up posts in such communities.

As a result, many rural schools rely on underqualified or untrained staff, leaving students at the mercy of an already broken system.

It is no wonder that pass rates at the Ordinary Level are as low as 0% in many rural schools.

Even in urban areas, the national average rarely exceeds 30%.

What this means is that over 70% of our young people are leaving school without any basic qualifications.

They are unemployable and ill-equipped to participate in the modern economy.

Yet, vocational training—an alternative path that could empower them with practical skills like carpentry, farming, and electrical work—is also not readily accessible.

The few vocational institutions that do exist are prohibitively expensive, with fees averaging US$390 per term.

In a country where over 80% of the population lives in poverty, this is simply out of reach for most families.

Where does this leave our children? What kind of future can we realistically offer them?

The grim answer is all around us.

Young people with no education and no hope are flooding the streets, forced into vending, crime, or drug abuse just to survive.

They have been failed by a system that has shut every door in their faces.

The streets of our towns and cities now teem with aimless youth who should have been doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, and teachers—but who are now simply struggling to make it through each day.

Even those who managed to excel academically are not spared.

Each year, thousands of graduates are churned out of our universities and colleges only to face a brutal reality: there are no jobs waiting for them.

Zimbabwe has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, estimated at over 90% in the informal sector.

Our graduates—despite years of sacrifice and hard work—find themselves selling airtime, vegetables, or simply sitting at home.

Their degrees are rendered meaningless in a country that has no space for their ambition or talent.

To make matters even worse, our education sector is plagued by an alarming dropout rate.

In 2024 alone, Deputy Minister of Education Angeline Gata revealed that nearly 50,000 learners dropped out of primary and secondary schools.

This includes 15,809 from primary and a staggering 33,746 from secondary schools.

The reasons are as tragic as they are preventable—teen pregnancies, financial hardship, long distances to school, and drug addiction.

These figures represent tens of thousands of dreams shattered and futures lost.

This is despite repeated promises from the government to provide financial assistance through programs like the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), which is supposed to cater for children from underprivileged families.

Sadly, the program remains grossly underfunded and poorly managed, with countless eligible children still being sent home for non-payment of fees.

In 2023, it was reported that more than 1.5 million children in Zimbabwe were in need of educational support, but BEAM managed to assist only a fraction of them.

This broken promise has led to a surge in school dropouts, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty and hopelessness.

What does this mean for Zimbabwe’s future?

How can we possibly hope to build a prosperous, modern nation when millions of our youth are uneducated, unemployed, and increasingly disillusioned?

A country without an educated and empowered youth is a country without a future.

We are watching the foundation of our nation crumble before our eyes, and if nothing is done, we are heading toward a social and economic implosion.

There is no doubt that Zimbabwe faces a serious crisis—one we can no longer afford to ignore.

Education is not a luxury; it is a right and a necessity for any meaningful development.

If we do not act now to rescue our education system, we are condemning our children—and the generations that follow—to a life of hardship, dependency, and despair.

We must hold our leaders accountable.

They must stop looting and start investing in the people they claim to serve.

Until that happens, the future of Zimbabwe will remain in darkness, and the dreams of our children will continue to wither away.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/