(HERALD) Shun dependency syndrome

COMMENT - " A lot of people think that the Government should provide them with everything from quality education, farming inputs to working capital for businesses. " That is because they have no money to pay for these services individually, and why they will not receive these services if and when they are turned into for-profit enterprises. Free government education turned Zimbabwe into the country with the lowest illiteracy rate in Africa, and one of the very lowest in the Americas - government service available to all WORK. The likes of the MDC like to forget that THE GOVERNMENT = WE THE PEOPLE, and that when we decide that literacy is important, we solve that problem though OUR government. What is needed are effective policies, not psychologizing by non-psychiatrists about 'dependency syndrome' (or 'dependency syndrome from the state' as human rights lawyer Tendai Biti would say).

Shun dependency syndrome

Government should deal with the culture of dependence that has become entrenched in Zimbabweans.

A lot of people think that the Government should provide them with everything from quality education, farming inputs to working capital for businesses.

But the truth of the matter is that Government cannot shoulder all this burden on its own and those who can afford should simply fund themselves and leave the State to take care of the vulnerable lot who are not able to meet their obligations.

This has been prompted by the announcement by Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart that Government will not increase tuition fees at the start of the new term next week.

The fees remain at US$5 for pupils attending a primary school in high-density suburbs and US$10 for those at secondary schools in the same suburbs.

Parents with children at primary schools in low-density suburbs will pay US$10 while those with children at secondary schools will pay US$20.

It is understandable Government has taken this decision on the basis that parents were not able to pay any more than what they were paying last year.

But are these fees being charged at Government schools adequate for them to provide quality education to pupils?

We believe some parents can pay more than this if they had their priorities right. A lot of parents spent more money on trinkets and other expenses such as airtime, hairdos and even beer than the paltry fees being charged by Government.

It is not uncommon for some people to spend as much as US$50 per month on mobile phone airtime.

Yet these are the same parents or guardians who complain bitterly that they cannot afford to pay the fees being asked for at Government schools.

It is clear that the Government cannot continue giving free education to every child in Zimbabwe, free inputs to every farmer in Zimbabwe or free health care to every patient in Zimbabwe.

Even with education, agriculture and health getting the largest allocations in the National Budget, the money is not enough.

This means that parents, farmers and patients have to dig into their pockets to supplement whatever is made available by the State.

Even in the early 1980s when the Zanu-PF Government oversaw a tremendous expansion in education, it was made clear that parents would chip in. Rural parents helped build new classrooms while their urban counterparts paid levies.

It should be the case again today because every parent desires quality education for their daughter or son. But that quality education is not possible if parents fail to pay even between US$5 and US$20 per term.

Last year Bulawayo council expressed shock that only 471 out of 37 734 pupils attending municipal-run schools paid their second term tuition fees.

A council report covering 29 council primary schools showed parents were even failing to pay the slashed fees, a development that councillors feared would hamper the revival of the education sector.

Surely, even if one sold tomatoes at the market one would be able to afford these fees if one’s priorities are right. Parents need to value the education of their children and plan their finances to meet the costs.

Most of today’s leaders were educated the hard way. Their parents had to sell cattle and other assets in order to send their children to school. They had to deny themselves some luxuries to save money for school fees.

The same spirit needs to be cultivated among Zimbabweans. Overdependence on the cash-strapped Government will keep us all mired in poverty.

It will also mean that the Government would be forced to increase taxes in order to raise money to provide the education and health services we so desperately need.