The lawmakers noted that some better-resourced schools performed poorly compared to those struggling for resources.
This came out yesterday when the Permanent Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Musa Miki, gave oral evidence on the provision of vehicles in the ministry before Parliament’s portfolio committee on primary and secondary education.
In his evidence, Mr Mickey said there was a serious shortage of vehicles needed for school inspections and visits.
The absence of vehicles to supervise schools could be one of the factors that made some schools record a zero percent pass rate.
Chairman of the committee Cde Ophias Murambiwa, a Zaka North legislator, said there was a need for the authorities to impose sanctions on school principals who had performed poorly.
“You must do something against players with a zero percent success rate, or they should be demoted. This should come to an end. The government is doing its best to provide resources.
“I have seen better resourced schools score zero per cent while less resourced schools perform well,” said CD Murambiwa.
He knew of a school that had always done well over the years, but suddenly…
to retreat.
“Nothing has changed. Same principal, same MP, same teachers, same resources, but it was 84th out of 92 when it was one of the best schools,” Cde Murambiwa said.
Other lawmakers echoed similar sentiments, saying school heads were complacent, abdicating their supervisory role at the expense of good quality education.
Cde Murambiwa also criticized the ministry’s leasing of vehicles to its senior managers. There was a need for a sustainable plan that the ministry should use instead of leasing vehicles.
This came after Mr Mikey said they were spending about $100,000 a month to their senior managers in Harare and in the provinces.
Senior managers were entitled to their own vehicles, and withdrawing them from the complex would harm the provision of services, hence the decision to rent vehicles to them.
He said that the ministry suffers from a shortage of vehicles.
He added: “The Ministry currently owns a fleet of 248 vehicles, including 155 racers and 93 non-racers. The Ministry faces an aging and severely depleted fleet which has resulted in constant breakdowns.
“This has led to very high repair costs and it is now more of a liability than an asset, resulting in limited mobility resulting in inadequate inspection and supervision of schools,” he said.
“Many schools have not been supervised, inspected or audited for several years due to difficult terrain and insufficient supply of vehicles across levels, which conflicts with the main and core priorities of the Ministry.
“The Ministry continues to suffer from the appearance of low student performance as evidenced by an increase in the zero percent pass rate, cases of indiscipline and bullying and cases of financial mismanagement as evidenced by audit reports.”
He said disciplinary hearings take a long time to complete due to transportation challenges for traveling and investigating cases as well as holding hearings. Announce
