Elections and Education in Zimbabwe

Students in Zimbabwe inspire ASAP's 1st annual Circle Our World With Love campaign

Yesterday Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told the UN High Commissioner that presidential elections will be held in 2012, although no exact date has been set for this process. Click here to read more.

You may be surprised to learn what impact elections may have on education in Zimbabwe in the coming year.

According to UNESCO "Parts of the world are becoming a deadly place to be a student, teacher or education official.... Accurate global figures do not exist for the number of teachers, students or officials killed each year, or for the other types of attack such as abductions, torture and threats of violence..."  To read more about the proposed actions being taken to prevent violence in schools in the upcoming year in Zimbabwe click here.

During 2012 ASAP has suspended our Bridge the Gap- Improving Math Education in Primary School project. Choosing instead to use these uncertain and potentially dangerous times to strengthen our ongoing work in 141 rural schools in rural Zimbabwe. Our hearts, prayers and compassion are with these teachers and students and are the motivation for our 1st annual Circle Our World With Love campaign. To learn more click here.

Schools Opened This Week in Zimbabwe

The new school term opened this week in Zimbabwe with teachers threatening to strike, if the government fails to meet their demands by June.“Teachers returned to work for the new term very angry and apprehensive, because the government still has not reviewed salaries and conditions of service. Also,violence against teachers has once again been on the rise and there has been no attempt to secure the working environment,” Zhou told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday. To read more click here.

There's a presidential election being planned in Zimbabwe in 2012 and rural education suffers when politics prevail.  The unpredictable and often dangerous environment demoralizes teachers. In 2008 all humanitarian organizations (including ASAP) were forbidden to operate. This is why ASAP has decided to temporarily suspend our ongoing Improving Math Education Primary School Project during 2012, using the time to examine what has worked during the past 7 years and bringing in new expertise to increase learning outcomes and results in the future.

If you struggle to find information from Zimbabwe, an excellent source of independent news is SW Radio Africa.