school development committee capacity reinforcement ......5 school development committee capacity...

SNV is dedicated to a society where all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their

own sustainable development. We contribute to this by strengthening the

capacity of local organizations

School Development Committee Capacity

Reinforcement Project in Zimbabwe

April 2011

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation




Acknowledgements This project was made possible by the support from UNICEF Education Transition Fund project

under the Programme Cooperation Agreement 2010-0039. The partnership with the Ministry of

Education Sport, Arts and Culture was indispensable from conception to implementation. The

dedication and commitment of MoESAC staff at provinces and districts is unrivaled.

We would also like to acknowledge the efforts and commitment from our implementing partner Save

the Children Zimbabwe and our staff in making this project a success.

Authors:

Erik Boonstoppel

Ringisai Chikohomero

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Zimbabwe, Harare

No. 6 Caithness Road Eastlea

Tel: +263 (4) 776136

Funded by:

UNICEF Education Transition Fund and SNV

Education Transition Fund is funded by European Union, USAID, SIDA, Finnish Government,

Australian Government Aid Programme, Japan, DANIDA, UKaid, NORAD, New Zealand Aid, KfW

Deutschland and Koninkrijk der Nederlanden

Implemented by:

SNV Netherlands Development Organization in partnership with Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts

and Culture, Zimbabwe

3 School Development Committee Capacity Reinforcement Project in Zimbabwe

Contents Contents 3 Acronyms 4 Executive Summary 5

Background 6 Capacity Development Goals 7 Cascading for lasting capacity 9 1. Development 9

2. Training of Trainers 9

3. Training of School Development Committees 10

High Returns on Capacity Development 12

SDC has improved understanding and can interpret the SI 87 of 1992 12

SDC understanding of finance and asset management at schools 14

SDC contribution to quality of, and access to education 16

SDC maintain good relations between the school, SDC and parents 17

Conclusion 18 Bibliography 19


Acronyms

DEO District Education Officer

ECD Early Childhood Development

ETF Education Transition Fund

CGCFT Child Guidance & Counseling Foundation Trust

MoESAC Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture

PED Provincial Education Director

SDC School Development Committee

SDA School Development Association

S.I. Statutory Instrument

SNV SNV Netherlands Development Organization

TEC Teacher Education College

ToT Training of Trainers

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Education Fund

ZIM Zimbabwe Institute of Management

ZOU Zimbabwe Open University

ZTV Zimbabwe Television


Executive Summary They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The School Development Committee

(SDC) capacity reinforcement project achieved an unprecedented action of reaching every primary

school with SDC training across Zimbabwe in one year. The project which begun in only three

districts in Manicaland, three in Matabeleland South and two in Matabeleland North provinces

snowballed to become a national programme with an extensive outreach to 72 districts in the

country.

To augment the efforts of the Education Transition Fund (ETF) to resuscitate the Education sector in

Zimbabwe the Ministry of Education Sport, Arts and Culture (MoESAC) entered into a partnership

with SNV Netherlands Development Organization (SNV). The partnership sought to reinforce the

capacity of the school development committees who are charged with the responsibility of

governing schools.

Figure 1: Inspectors using training manual

Today, 692 MoESAC officials have

the capacity to train and offer

support to SDCs in the country. A

total of 21573 parents and school

administrators from 5519 out of

5644 primary schools have been

trained in governance, leadership

and management principles

Preliminary results show that there

has been a remarkable

improvement in SDC governance

and management of schools.

There was leap in the number of

effectively and efficiently governed

schools. After training, 75% of the

schools in the sample, who had challenges with regards to their finance and asset management,

instituted changes that have led to transparency in the management of school finances. This in turn

has won SDCs greater confidence from parents who are now more willing to pay school levies. An

18% increase of properly constituted SDCs was recorded in a post intervention survey by SNV. With

regards to the SDC’s role in school development projects up to 92% of SDCs are now embarking on

school development projects with the full support of parents, compared to 77% during the pre-

intervention period. The underlying crucial factor was the often strained relations between school

administrators and parents. We can report that 12% more SDCs feel they have very good relations

and 10% more schools reported higher attendance at parent-school meetings.

The programme had considerable national impact, but the application of specific technical

knowledge and sustenance of positive relations will take longer to institutionalise. The early fruits of

the programme have resuscitated confidence in schools amongst parents in particular and other

stakeholders generally, but to sustain it close supervision of schools is crucial and other key

institutions (local and national) need to keep demanding accountability on educational institutions.


Background The Education Transition Fund (ETF) was launched in 2009 by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts

and Culture (MoESAC). With support of the donor community, under the auspices of UNICEF, the

ETF provided teaching and learning materials for all primary schools. To ensure good management

of these new resources the ETF also supported School Development Committees (SDC) capacity

reinforcement programme. In close cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and

Culture (MoESAC) the SDC reinforcement programme was facilitated by SNV Netherlands

Development Organization. The programme aimed at improving the quality of education in schools

through reinforcing the SDC’s capacity and increasing parental participation in the management of

primary schools.

Manicaland province in the eastern part of Zimbabwe had several primary schools with 0% passes

in the 2005 Grade 7 Public Examinations. In 2007 these ‘0% pass rate schools’ were eliminated, but

in 2008 they came back. These figures were not surprising following the hardships in the country in

2007 and 2008. Monthly salaries of teachers could at one point not even buy a cabbage. Due to

these hardships teaching staff sought greener pastures and as a result some schools were

‘unmanned’. With the dollarization of the economy, in 2009 the situation greatly improved, but still

the 2009 December examinations pass rate in the province was low. The situation was similar in the

other provinces in the country.

In an effort to gain insight in the problems the Provincial Education Director (PED) for Manicaland

had found that capacity gaps in management and poor school-community relations were partially to

blame for the poor performance of schools. Due to the economic down turn, government found itself

relying increasingly on local communities and other stakeholders to finance school operations and to

some extent incentives for teachers. Naturally, tensions between the school administration and

community arose with respect to the handling of resources. To corroborate this, SNV’s assessments

in 2008 and 20091 revealed that many School Development Committees were not fully aware of

their roles and responsibilities and in many cases lacked the capacity to carry out their mandate.

The needs assessment established the following areas of concern: governance, financial

management, school-community relations and access to quality of education. Similar results were

revealed in Matabeleland North and South.

The identified capacity gaps were refined and a three-day training course for SDCs developed and

piloted in response. This was later developed into a national programme which aimed addressing

the following problem statement: “primary SDCs have inadequate capacity to govern their schools

and resources, which led to suboptimal quality of and access to education.”

Figure 2: School Development Committee Handbook and Training Manual

1 SNV Intermediary results of School Development Committees Training in Manicaland: Buhera and

Mutasa Districts 2009.


Capacity Development Goals The project aimed at improving the quality of education in primary schools, and increasing the

access to primary schools. The core of the programme was to achieve this through reinforcing

primary School Development Committees’ capacity and increase parents’ active participation in

primary school management. From this premise four programme objective were formulated these

are:

I. To help SDCs understand and interpret the Statutory Instrument 87 of 1992 which gives legal

force to the establishment of the SDC

II. To help SDCs understand and apply appropriate financial management of schools

III. To enable SDCs to contribute to quality and access of education

IV. To help maintain good relations between the school, SDC and parents

Expected results at the school level for each objective are elaborated as follows:

SDCs understand and interpret the S.I 87 of 1992 relates to the members in the committee

understanding their roles, responsibilities and powers, which would equip them to function more

effectively and efficiently. One of the indicators was; more schools having properly constituted SDCs

which would exclude from the school elements that promoted political conflicts. Another important

indicator was the knowledge of members on their voting rights as it would empower the parent

members to make correct decisions. It would strengthen the professional position of the school

head as it clarified the limits of the power wielded by elected parents. This ensured that they would

not encroach on the control of the day to day school operations which was the ‘expert’’ domain of

the school head. Improved transparency and decision making would be reflected in minutes of the

SDC.

SDCs understand the financial and asset management regulations in their schools refers to

improving transparency, accountability and participatory decision making on financial matters. This

would ensure that school fees are used primarily for enhancing teaching and learning, and funds

are not embezzled. The indicators included having more properly constituted finance sub

committees. This is to ensure adequate checks and balances to prevent financial transactions being

made by the wrong people or for the wrong reasons. For the same reasons another important

indicator was the correct the panel of signatories, as well as appropriate keeping and maintenance

of financial and asset records.

SDCs contribute to the quality of education and access at their schools speaks to focusing

energy of the members towards school development, quality of teaching and learning. SDCs are

best positioned to mobilize community members and resources for school development if they have

a vision that is well informed. Indicators, therefore, included issues like members being more aware

of school and pupil performance, pupil academic and social needs, professional needs and welfare,

as well as the textbook and infrastructure situations in the schools. Further, indicators examined

what the SDCs did with this information, e.g. were there any school development plans and were

they realistically budgeted for?

SDC contribute towards good relations between school, SDC and parents focuses on the

social aspects of leading and managing a school. Members have different backgrounds and often

diverging interests. However, if they worked in harmony the SDC could go very far in improving

teaching and learning in their schools. Good relations in the SDC cultivate trust in the community.

Among the indicators was: reflections on better relationships as well as willingness of parents and

community members to contribute to schools, for example more parents paying school fees and

levies.


Apart from aiming to achieve positive changes in schools as highlighted through the four objectives,

the programme also aimed at increasing the capacity of the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and

Culture (MoESAC) to address school governance and management issues in the future. The project

was therefore mainly implemented by the MoESAC. Moreover, the project included training and

coaching of almost all MoESAC district level staff in elements of applying adult training

methodologies as well as improving their understanding of legislation and applicability in day to day

operations of supervision. SDCs are elected every year, and when new members come in they can

fall back on support from the district offices. In addition, MoESAC staff is more conscious that school

governance issues have a bearing on the quality of education. As a result, they will now also

interact with SDCs rather than with the school administrators only.

Figure 3: Distribution of 5644 primary schools in Zimbabwe (map by OCHA)


Cascading for lasting capacity Having identified a capacity gap and armed with experiences from the pilot trainings MoESAC and

SNV developed a training manual and a reference book for the SDCs. These were used as resource

materials by schools and the ministry personal. Together MoESAC and SNV organized training for all

the SDCs at the primary education level in the country through the Education Transition Fund

financed SDC Reinforcement Programme.

The SDC reinforcement programme was implemented in three phases using the cascading model:

1. Development

2. Training of Trainers

3. Training of School Development Committees

1. Development

The model was chosen because it would ensure sustainability of the capacities developed. This

provided an avenue of building the capacity of the MoESAC at all levels. Training and resource

materials were developed involving various stakeholders like SNV, UNICEF, Save the Children and

local capacity builders such as Zimbabwe Institute of Management and Zimbabwe Open University.

The SDC handbook was translated into vernacular languages. MoESAC, through the Curriculum

Development Unit, had the final say and ensured that the materials adhered to Ministry standards.

After six editing meetings the MoESAC approved of the training manual and handbook for printing

on June 6 2010.

Eventually, participants of the trainings received a certificate of attendance and each school was left

with two copies of the SDC handbook, one copy in English and another copy in a vernacular

language. In total 17788 copies were distributed.

2. Training of Trainers

At the provincial level each province had a team of facilitators who facilitated the Training of

Trainers (T0T) session. They impressed upon the trainers the use of participatory facilitation

methodologies. This proved helpful as the trainers now applied techniques appropriate for the adult

audiences of the SDC to complement their vast experience of teaching school pupils.

19 ToT sessions were held in 10 provinces and in total 692 trainers were trained, 90% of whom

were MoESAC officials. The ToTs took place in May and June 2010. We have to note that this largely

covered all MoESAC staff in 72 districts.

Figure 3: Training of

Trainers for Masvingo

Province. Inspectors and

District Education Officers

in healthy debate.


Table 1: Number of participants in the Training of Trainers Phase

Designation No. participants

Provincial Education Directorate 18

District Education Officer 76

Inspectors/Education Officer 158

District Resource Teacher 100

Teacher Education College 10

Social Services Officer 61

Accountant 66

Other: heads, remedial tutors, early

childhood education trainers, Distance

Learning Coordinator, and others

203

Total 692

Figure 4: Training of committee at their school

3. Training of School Development Committees

In the third phase, which ran from July till

early September 2010, 5519 primary SDCs

out of 5644 primary schools were trained.

For each school 4 participants that

constituted the Finance Sub Committee

were invited. Up to six schools participated

in a training organized at a school in the

cluster. A cluster is a set of about six

schools within a locality that assist and

support each other towards excellence in

academic, sporting and cultural activities.

A total of 992 trainings were organized with

an average attendance of 3.9 persons.

Table 2: Number of School Development Committee Members trained

Province No. Trainings No. Participants No. Primary SDCs

Masvingo 126 3151 808

Manicaland 151 3116 844

Bulawayo 25 372 121

Mat North 89 2157 519

Mat South 108 1898 488

Midlands 143 3033 746

Harare 41 941 212

Mash Central 91 1860 491

Mash East 111 2571 656

Mash West 107 2474 634

Total 992 21573 5519

Target 955 21200 5300


While SDC trainings reached 4 out of 9 members of the finance sub-committee the media was

employed to ensure greater outreach through radio and TV programmes in vernacular languages.

While the trainers went out into the schools to train 21573 SDC members, a coaching programme

was concurrently implemented by the facilitators who had organized the ToTs. Facilitators visited

144 trainings and coached over half of the trainers. The coaching was effective as it was evident

that trainers needed on the job support, advice and encouragement to not fall back on ‘lecturing’

but be consistent in using participatory facilitation methodologies which are effective for adult

learning.

Table 3: Number of trainers coached on the job

Province No. Trainings

monitored/coached

No. Primary

Schools

No. Trainers

Coached

Masvingo 13 80 39

Manicaland 15 101 49

Bulawayo 9 68 27

Mat North 14 30 42

Mat South 9 30 18

Midlands 13 40 39

Harare 42 213 43

Mash Central 8 45 27

Mash East 9 58 28

Mash West 12 98 35

Total 144 763 347


High Returns on Capacity Development

The cascading model imparted the essential skills of organizing, coordinating and implementing

capacity development training sessions. Mwenezi District has mooted plans for future trainings.

“We have seen that it is important to make capacity building an annual event in the district seeing

that the trainings are comprehensive and relevant skills have already been given to us in these

trainings with all SDCs. Next year the district has made its own plans using our own funds and

community contributions on food to carry out these workshops again. We have realized that there

should be a separate budget annually for capacity building and we will make use of the Better

Schools Programme Zimbabwe funds. As a district we did not have capacity to train but seeing how

these workshops have been organized and carried out we feel able to do the same. One other thing

is we now have training materials and the skills to train them.” DEO Mwenezi Disrict

The Mwenezi DEO’s words point to the sustainability of the project as communities are willing to

partner the district trainers in carrying out annual capacity building trainings for their schools.

During the programme community commitment was evidenced by the contributions they made to

augment the project budget with approximately US$57,000.

Capacity development is a process and its seed takes time to germinate and give yield. However, in

our case the picture is already showing encouraging results. For every objective there are

remarkable changes in a positive direction.

SDC has improved understanding and can interpret the SI 87 of 1992

“Awa matrannings atiitira zvakanaka nokuti tave neruzivo rwezvatinotarisirwa kuiita. Pamwe

takakanga tisingazivi kuti toita sei. Haunga vhunzi munhu kuti apamazviitirei paita se,i iwe usina

chaunoziva.” (The trainings have done well for us because we now know of our duties and

responsibilities. There were times when we did not know what to do in situations and we could not

ask people why they had done something because we did not know if it was our place to do so), a

teacher representative from one of the participating schools at Chinowaita cluster training said.

Qualitative and quantitative assessments revealed that impact of the training in terms of knowledge

acquisition and attitude change was almost immediate.

The thrust was to improve governance within the SDC. To do this, the training had a component on

the SI 87 of 1992 which is one of the legal instruments that give legal force to the establishment of

SDCs in Zimbabwe. It sets the guidelines on the establishment of SDCs, its jurisdiction and

operation. Results from the evaluation exercise point to an improved knowledge of the statutory

instrument.

The evaluation exercise showed that 90.9% acknowledged pre-training ignorance on the statutory

guidelines. The remaining 9.1% said that they were already conversant and had relevant documents

prior to the training. After the training all indicated they now understood the legal requirements and

about 25% had actually procured the statutory instrument.

Moreover, enumerators verified school records pre and post training. Before training records showed

that only 46.1 % of the SDCs were properly constituted, while after the training this significantly

improved to 64.5 %, an increase of 18.4

The story below is indicative of the transformations happening in schools after the trainings. It is a

tale of a remote school in Bikita district in Masvingo Province, some 400+km from the capital city

Harare where for many years role conflicts and open flouting of the Statutory Instrument

characterized the operations of the SDC.


When elephants fight the grass suffers’… the case of Murwira SDC1

By Phyllis Kachere

Mr. Tendai used to wear two hats at the same time. He was a ward councillor, and

was chairperson of the School Development Committee of Tavarega primary school.

This was in direct contravention with the Statutory Instrument 87 of 1992 which

guides the establishment of the SDC.

Located in Bikita, Masvingo province’s most populous rural district which is about

470km south-east of Harare (the capital city). The school has a pupil population of

almost 500 children whose families survive on less than a dollar-a day.

For the past years the SDC has been in a logjam and operations were grinding to a

halt because of role conflicts within the committee.

“By virtue of him being a ward councillor, it automatically meant he sat in the school

development committee representing the responsible authority; which is the Bikita

Rural District Council in our case. On another level he would be representing the

interests of the parents, which usually are parallel to his other hats”.

“In addition to the two roles, he would represent his political party and one can

imagine the chaos created by these conflicting posts. The hats were too numerous

and created a conflict of interest, which made the situation untenable. But no one in

the community had the guts to confront him over that. In this highly politically-

polarized community it became not only hazardous but untenable,” said the school

head Mr Tapera.

Mr Vengai narrated an incident where, because of the powers Mr Rova wielded, he

had instructed that it was not necessary to deposit in the bank school fees that had

been collected over two months against the ministry’s regulations.

“Ministry regulations insist that we immediately deposit in a bank school fees paid.

His argument was that the fees were too little to warrant the up and down journey to

Masvingo, which is about 100km away. Unfortunately the school was hit by robbers

and I got into trouble with the ministry for flouting the regulations,” explained Mr

Vengai.

The situation has changed. Mr Fambai is the new chairperson of the committee. He

said the training workshop they underwent had made it easier for them to execute

their duties as both parties (committee and administration) are now clearer on their

roles and functions. “I have been in the committee for the past four years but there

are so many things that our committee was doing, which I realized during the

training were wrong and we have since started doing the right thing.”

“For example, at one time, our committee (with the support of the councillor) used to

demand that the school head hands over the school fees collected and let it be kept

at the house of one our members whom we had chosen as the treasurer. Thank God,

she was an honest woman and we never had incidences of embezzlement. Now we

realize that was very wrong. Both the head and the community were scared of the

powers that the councillor wielded and that in itself is bad enough for corporate

governance,” said Mr Fambai.


Findings from the assessments point towards improved understanding and application of the

process of establishing an SDC. It does, however, also indicate that more improvements can be

made. The available reference materials will make it possible that the positive progression will be

consolidated over time as existing and future members read and apply relevant knowledge.

SDC understanding of finance and asset management at schools

The area of finance and asset management showed the greatest impact of the intervention. SDCs

are supervising the management of school finances and assets more closely.

Asset Records and Security

The assessments revealed considerable improvements in the levels of knowledge regarding asset

availability as evidenced by new asset register entries and updates and more parent involvement in

securing school assets. Minutes of meetings showed that SDCs were receiving updates and being

consulted in terms of asset acquisition, and physical marking of assets confirmed that schools were

mitigating risks of loss.

28% of the schools did not have asset registers before the training. After the training, in 12% more

schools (84% of the sample) the presence of asset registers was confirmed. Even though 72% of

the schools had registers pre-training, a closer look at the asset registers showed these were not

being regularly updated to track asset status and location within the school. Commonly seen

improvements after the training are up to date master asset registers and classroom inventories

while furniture and other items have been tagged in serials. Verification by enumerators’ cross

validation showed significant 24.3% more schools having up to date asset registers after the

training.

Security of assets goes beyond the maintenance of asset registers. It also includes providing

physical protection like fencing, fixing burglar-bars, windows and doors, establishing strong rooms

with burglar bars and providing school watchmen. Not only did 23,3% more schools put policies for

loss and damage of assets in place, 64.9% of the SDCs also put some measures to secure school

assets after the training such as fencing, acquiring security services or installing burglar bars. Such

security measures reflect that in the post-training period SDCs are taking serious responsibility for

school maintenance of assets.

Financial Procedures

S.I. 87 of 1992 makes provision for a finance sub-committee of the SDC2. This is the sub-committee

that presides over all financial matters. In the pre-training data, only 25% of the sampled schools

had correctly constituted finance Sub committees, which considerably improved to 100% as is

evident from the project review.

Moreover, 58.4% of the schools indicated that before the training the school heads performed all

financial governance tasks without consulting parents, and 64.9% of the schools admitted to not

having cash books, master receipt books and use of money before banking prior to the training.

The picture after the training showed in both cases improvements to 100%.

These improvements are laudable as finance and asset management are also the areas which are

the source of conflicts in schools.

“The district office was swamped with cases of school conflicts and funds embezzlement. The

source of the problem had been from SDC who had politicized their offices and made operations at

the school difficult. Of the 10 schools in Mufakose area, eight had cases of SDA misappropriating

school funds and internal struggle to control school assets. But the situation from third term 2010 to

the 2011 academic year [after the trainings] has improved. The story is new. The schools are at

2 Made up of the school head, deputy head, SDC chair and Deputy Chair and is chaired by the head.


peace now.” The Education Inspector and one time Acting District Education Officer in Harare

Metropolitan Province

A compelling story of Munoirwa primary school in Manicaland province shares the fruits of improved

accountability and transparency.

Restoring confidence in the school financial management1

By Mandy Kanyemba

One class monitor at Munoirwa Primary school hurriedly collects the other

pupils books and puts them by the corner of the classroom, indicating the

conclusion of the day’s learning activities. The books are neatly arranged in

four piles of English, Shona, Content and Mathematics subjects. The class

monitor leaves the classroom, followed by the class teacher who locks the

classroom door. The books and school furniture are safely locked in the

classroom and it is the daily routine. Pupils do not necessarily have to move to

school and home everyday carrying a load of books but only one exercise book,

which is the homework book.

The security provided for the learning resources makes the school children

participate and enjoy the learning environment. To add onto the security of the

building structures, a security guard was employed to safeguard the school

premises when there are no school activities taking place.

The situation has not always been as rosy as it may seem at the present

moment. The school head Mr. Bangari explained that Munoirwa Primary school

which is situated in Manicaland’s Chipinge District, was in a state where the

windows were broken, some doors broken yet some did not even have security

locks. In 2010, thieves gained free entry into the classrooms and stole all

learning materials which they could carry leaving the pupils with no learning

materials. That left the school authorities with no option but to store the few

remaining learning materials of all grades (Early Childhood Learning to Grade

7) in the Headmaster’s office, which had become the safest storeroom. The

learning materials were piled up in a corner and covered with a large black

plastic paper, to protect the exercise and text books from further theft.

After the trainings in September 2010, the SDC members came with a

feedback to the community, parents and school staff. They shared their

knowledge with the community on how they could move forward in developing

their school. The parents and school staff clearly outlined what they had to do

and how to do it to make the school a better place. The first step that the SDC

took was to update all assets records at the school, give report to the parents

on the state of financial records and assets. With this they showed great strides

towards ensuring that everything was transparently done. This move won the

trust of the parents at the school and can be said to have been the first brick

towards building good relations with the community.


SDC contribution to quality of, and access to education

The training provided a basic framework for understanding quality education and the role of SDCs in

its pursuit. Quality education was defined in relation to meeting expectations of society, producing

skilled personnel and contribution to overall quality of life. To achieve this, the training defined key

roles of the SDC as being about ensuring resource adequacy and efficient management, SDC

effectiveness, initiating projects in the school and, inter alia, adherence to relevant legislation and

policies.

An important indicator of school-level efforts was improvements to infrastructure and facilities for

both teachers and pupils. It was noted in the assessments that 19.5% of the schools repaired

infrastructure before the training. The repairs included furniture, fencing, door and lock repairs,

signposts and classroom renovation. After the training the percentage had on average increased to

over 50%. Detailed percentages per improvement are highlighted in table 4. Though a causal

relationship cannot be established, the training is likely to have had an enormous catalyst effect in

terms of school development.

Table 4: Infrastructure and furniture improvements vis a vis 19,5% pre-training

Improvements Number of schools (77)

Painting, classroom floor repairs & plastering 40 (51.9%)

Sign posts 46 (59.7%)

Fencing 43 (55.8%)

Door and lock repairs 47 (61%)

Bench and chair repairs3 48 (62.3%)

3 For instance Tonga School (Kariba) repaired at least 200 benches and chairs. This was done in four

dozen schools in total.

All the parties identified the need to start by repairing the building structures which

were in a serious state of disrepair. The how part of raising the funds was not as difficult

as some had perceived. The SDC decided to raise the school levy from $3 to $5, which

the parents agreed to pay without hesitation in order to facilitate the repair of the

damaged properties since the SDC had shown its transparency. Sufficient money was

raised to buy key locks, doors and window panes. Now the damaged school property

has been repaired, learning materials and furniture now lie safe in the locked

classrooms when pupils are through with their lessons for the day.

Ms Tarumbwa, who is the SDC Secretary, confirmed that the SDC committee together

with teachers and the community managed to replace some broken windows, fix doors

and locks and are finishing up the construction of a Grade 5 classroom block which was

the second step they took after completing the first renovations. She added that the

training programme was an eye opener to the SDC members as they were taught about

how to mobilize resources for themselves, maintain and utilize resources for the benefit

of the school.

The fears of financial abuse have been put to rest by improved transparency and accountability. As a result parents are no longer hesitant to contribute financially to school projects.


From the assessments it is clear that SDC members are more informed to make decisions. From

40% of the SDC chairpersons knowing the textbook situation in their schools before the training, it

rose significantly to 62% after the training. Moreover, more SDCs have in place concrete school

development plans. A total of 67.7% of schools pre-training had school development plans and this

increased significantly to 88.3% after the training.

This is evidence to show that SDCs in their meetings were now discussing standards and planning

for quality of education at their schools.

It is unmistakable that SDCs have moved from being back benchers in the teaching and learning at

the schools to demanding results from the school administration and teaching staff. One head

reportedly mentioned that the trainings have instigated a new ‘war’ at the school with SDCs

pledging resources but demanding real value for their resources from the teachers.

“Immediately after the SDC training in September, 2010 we quickly arranged for a meeting with

parents as we wanted to brief them on what transpired at the training. But more to it, we wanted to

entice them into quickening the completion of the ECD block that was under construction and

scaling up by building another ECD classroom so as to increase the intake from the then proposed

57 to 100 by May 2011”. The words of Nyame primary SDC vice chairperson reinforce the findings

above.

Across the board the findings show that more SDCs had either initiated new development projects

or were working towards completion of existing projects at their schools after the training. The

assessments showed a significant increase in the schools with development projects from the

77.8% to 92.3%.

SDC maintain good relations between the school, SDC and parents

Figure 5: Committee members during training creating better relations

Stressing a point during the SDC trainings in

Gutu District one Education Inspector

indicated that there were many cases at his

office of parents wanting to get rid of their

school heads at the same time accusing the

SDCs of working together with school

administration to the disadvantage of

parents, “The conflicts disrupt teaching and

learning at schools as more time is spent in

fights and parents refuse to pay fees in such

situations” the Education Inspector said.

This exemplifies conflicts between parents

and administrations that were pervasive in

schools across the country. After the

training, relations have considerably

improved. The Provincial Education Director of Masvingo Province said “We last had these trainings

almost a decade ago and that explains the numerous challenges we have in schools as the

committees and the administration tussle over school resources control. We are glad we had them.”

Assessment shows an increase of 64.6% before to 84.1% after the training in willingness by parents

to contribute money towards school development and in them participating in school activities, like

price giving days. The school head at Tonga primary said “For many years, parents never liked to be

involved in school activities including sports. Today, look, there are parents here supporting children

during this year’s school inter-house athletics competitions!


In general, improved school relations were also reflected in higher attendance during general school

– parent assemblies. After the training 61,2% of the respondents noted an average attendance of

75%, while this was only 50.9% pre-training. Moreover, 44.8% of the SDC chairpersons

interviewed pre-training said that the relations in the SDC were very good. This percentage

significantly improved to 57,4%.

The SDC chairperson at Tonga primary school noted that lessons on team building had made impact

on them. He said that the SDC has since managed to cultivate good relations with parents which

resulted in parents coming to join hands in support of school projects like building a separate

classroom for the small children. Apart from participating in the school’s athletics competition

parents at Tonga went further to raise enough funds to send the school’s sports master to a

coaching clinic in Harare the capital city some 366 km away from Kariba.

Conclusion With the support of the multi donor Education Transition Fund the Ministry of Education Sport, Arts

and Culture was able to build a strong foundation for School Development Committee strengthening

through empowerment of the communities.

The programme reached out to 5519 out of 5644 primary schools in the country. With their

capacities reinforced early signs are showing SDCs working towards improving learning

infrastructure in schools, better financial management and improved parent involvement in the

education of their children. The benefits to the 2.7million pupils4 enrolled in primary schools will be

phenomenal. Children are likely to have better resourced teachers, more conducive learning

environments through better management and governance at their schools.

The case of Nyame primary school, of the SDC initiating after the training the building new early

childhood development (ECD) classroom, is one example amongst many that show SDCs

contribution towards access to education. The new classroom may result in increased enrolment of

ECD pupils at the school. This and many other similar stories from the field gives evidence that

SDCs are now in a better position to ensure and promote that every child within their community

not only attends school but will learn in an environment with optimum conditions conducive for the

realisation of quality education.

Speaking to the press the Deputy Minister of Education Sport, Arts and Culture Mr. Dokora said,

“The trainings will help end animosity between school heads and SDCs…sensitize authorities of

parents’ role in development and avoid unnecessary conflicts in the school community”5. At this

point we can safely say that the capacity building intervention has lived up to its billing.

The programme had considerable national impact, but the application of specific technical

knowledge and sustenance of positive relations will take longer to institutionalize. The early fruits of

the programme have resuscitated confidence in schools amongst parents in particular and other

stakeholders generally, but to sustain it close supervision of schools is crucial and other key

institutions (local and national) need to keep demanding accountability on educational institutions.

4 EU Delegation Zimbabwe, Education Standing Brief 5 The Herald Tuesday 3 August 2010


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NB: though the cases and quotes are real, the names of people and schools in the report are

fictitious.

©SNV 2011




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