and cultural politics and is in this respect consistent with the role of schools in remediating social injustices for the disadvantaged (Cuervo 2018).
The notions of social justice discussed above highlight some of the debates relating to the concept and its application to education. It is gen- erally acknowledged that the application of the concept to education is problematic. The challenges emanate from the fact that there is no con- sensus about what constitutes social justice (Clark 2006); and that the concept is usually oversimplified in policy documents and assumptions are often made about there being a common understanding of what social justice is. This may lead to the inequalities experienced by different social groups and individuals in schools being disregarded (Cuervo 2012).
Development Goal 2), and ensuring inclusive and equitable quality edu- cation and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all (the new Sustainable Development Goal 4); (Spiel, Schwartzman, Busemeyer et al.
2008). Such commitment is manifest in the Zimbabwe Constitution (2013) and Education Act (1987). Section 75 of 2013 Constitution pro- vides for every citizen’s right to basic state-funded education. Along the same lines, the Education Act (1987) Section 4 (1) states that every child in Zimbabwe shall have a right to education and provides for free and compulsory primary education (but secondary education was not made free), removal of age restrictions and automatic progression from primary to secondary school (which was meant to ensure equality of opportu- nity). The Act was subsequently amended several times, for example in 1991 and 2006, the latest amendment being in 2019. The 1991 amended Act reintroduced tuition fees at primary school for urban schools but education remained free for rural children perhaps as acknowledgement that these areas were disadvantaged. But at the same time, the amended 1991 Education Act “transferred responsibility for the provision of edu- cation away from government, to parents who are legally obligated to send their children to primary school, regardless of their personal finan- cial situation” (Drury 2013). The implication of this stipulation was a compromise on the right to education particularly for communities which still experience poverty. The amended 2006 Education Act mainly focused on the regulation of the fees system in schools. The 2019 amended Act, among other things, seeks to ensure adequate school infrastructure.
Other related policies such as the Language in Education Policy and the National Gender Policy (2004) suggest some concerns for recognition and parity in education. On the whole, indications are that human rights and social justice are the underlying principles of education policy in independent Zimbabwe.
Rural Education in Zimbabwe
The notion of rurality varies from place to place, but the term is usually defined in geographical, demographic, economic and socio-cultural terms (Cuervo 2012). In the African context, the rural areas are
characterised by underdevelopment and extreme poverty, hunger, malnu- trition, out-of-school children, squalid conditions, high infant mortality and low life expectancy (Adedeji and Olaniyan 2011). Some of these maladies are also features of rural areas in Zimbabwe. There are two main categories of rural areas in the country: communal areas which were a product of the colonial land alienation policies which restricted Africans to unproductive areas of the country; and the resettlement areas which created the Fast Track land resettlement programme after independence to redress the imbalances in landownership. The majority of the country’s population resides in rural areas. The main source of livelihoods in rural areas is peasant farming. The areas are characterised by poverty and some of the most disadvantaged people in the country are to be found here as the colonial legacy of unequal development continues to be a hallmark of these areas. Efforts by the government to redress the problem through the Growth Point concept, for example, have largely been unsuccessful.
Poverty in rural areas is higher than in urban areas with about 77% of rural households being classified as poor, compared to 30% in urban areas (ZimStats 2019). These socioeconomic inequalities between urban and rural communities are visible even in the provision of and access to education.
Public education in the country is provided by the government and rural and urban councils. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s (MoPSE) 2017 Annual Education Statistics Profile shows that 86% of primary schools and 80% of secondary schools in the coun- try are to be found in the rural areas. Most of the schools (72.2%) are public schools and fall under Rural District Councils (RDCs), with a few others being under the authority of government and missions/churches and private organisations. The public schools in rural areas are in three categories namely: growth point schools; satellite schools in resettlement areas; and traditional communal schools. While conditions in these schools are not generic, they largely share some common traits which make it possible to give them a blanket classification of rural schools most of the time. The satellite schools are mainly found in newly resettled areas and constitute about 30.8% of the secondary schools and 16.4% of the primary schools in rural areas (Zimbabwe Education Blueprint 2015–2022). These are unregistered because they do not meet the criteria
for registration, for example, basic infrastructure and their registration status may disqualify them from getting funding. RDCs, therefore, mostly cater for the economically and socially disadvantaged rural popu- lation and they are supposed to subsidise operational costs of schools under their authority, with communities bearing the bulk of the costs of rural education. Most RDCs with their narrow revenue bases lack the capacity to develop and support schools that fall under their responsibil- ity, while the rural communities are generally poor. The relinquishing by government of the provision of rural education to RDCs and rural com- munities suggests some vestiges of the pre-independence experiences whereby the white regimes were reluctant to assume responsibility for the education of the black majority. Even RDCs in some parts of the country are exploring possibilities of handing over responsibility of some schools under their authority to church organisations. These developments have created what Drury (2013) calls opportunities for exclusion and margin- alisation. A common feature of rural schools, therefore, is the challenges experienced in providing educational services among the rural poor and this makes social justice central to this discussion on rural education (Cuervo 2012).