On 4th July 2010, SNV and the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture celebrated the kick-off of the training of 5300 School Development Committees in Zimbabwe.
Trained District Education Officers, Education Inspectors and other stakeholders have gone all over the country to schools to train the governors of these 5300 schools. The training is funded by the Education Transition Fund through UNICEF together with considerable contributions from the communities and schools towards the trainings.
Participants in the trainings include the chairperson, vice-chairperson, the head and deputy heads of the respective schools, along with, councillors and traditional leaders. Initially, management training ordinarily focused on the school administration. The current combined training of school administrators and the parent representatives is the first of its kind at such a large scale in Zimbabwe. The commitment and eagerness by the people demonstrates evidence of the relevance and importance of this training.
So far, approximately 712 School Development Committees have been trained. Attendance was on average above 100% and we can already report immediate results. Participants are in some cases already showing changes in behaviour and attitudes towards governing their schools.
“Knowledge is power. Without the proper knowledge this power can be destructive. Sometimes we do things in our personal interests that could be counter productive” one MDC councilor who had dissolved all community committees including the School Development Committees in his ward.
The trainings are scheduled to take place until mid-September 2010 and will only stop once we have covered all the schools in the country. By the end of the year, we will be able to report on tangible results that are for the benefit of the children’s learning.