The quality of education received in rural schools, therefore, does not allow children to compete with their urban counterparts or provide opportunities to realise their full potential. While urban families might be in a position to enhance their children’s educational experiences, for example through paying for private extra lessons which is now a common feature of education in urban areas, most rural parents, due to poverty and other factors, might not be able to do so and can hardly complement the efforts of schools to afford equality of opportunity. Failure to attain the required ‘O’ level passes represents a dead end and most rural chil- dren then are resigned to peasant farming and the treadmill of poverty, just like their parents. Female children who do not enter into early mar- riages may move into towns to provide cheap labour as housemaids.
Rural education in this respect tends to reinforce existing social inequali- ties and monopolies of social status (Spiel et al. 2008, p. 51) and dimin- ishes the social mobility function of education.
The combination of factors discussed in the above paragraphs suggest further regression into colonial practices of bottlenecks and the stratifica- tion of public schools, though this time not along racial lines. The latter has put paid to the idea of a single system of education in the country and for rural students there seems to be a separate school system and access to disadvantaged schools, thus together with other factors, raising concerns about equity in the country’s education system.
Several equity gaps are apparent in rural education, some of which have already been alluded to. A persistent gap and one which could be classified as a ‘wicked problem’ (Roberts 2016) of rural education in the country is the gap in terms of resources. Rural schools do not have access to resources that are necessary to effectively serve their learners.
Educational reforms have tended to focus on providing a one size fits all educational opportunity which does not take into account the historical disadvantage of rural schools and their need for extra resources. The dis- parity in access to resources amongst schools is evidenced by their cate- gorisation according to socioeconomic status, i.e. P1, P2, P3 for primary schools and S1, S2 and S3 for secondary schools. Rural schools, which are in categories P3 and S3, have the lowest school incomes while P1 and S1 schools have the highest incomes and access to resources. These dis- parities in access to resources amongst schools make it difficult to achieve equity and fairness (Maravanyika 2018).
Related to the above is the inequity in quality in rural education. The issue of low quality education in rural schools has not been addressed.
Focus has been on ensuring access and in the process quality of education has been compromised, thus inherently producing disparities in learning outcomes.
A third gap in rural education relates to gender equity. This has been a contentious issue in rural education due to cultural and other factors that have limited the participation of girl children in education. In acknowl- edgement of this concern, in 2004 the government put in place the Gender Policy, one aspect of which sought to address some of the dispari- ties in education for the girl children in general and not just in rural areas.
Government efforts in this regard have been complemented by interven- tions from such programmes as Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) (which supports rural children at primary and secondary school by paying their tuition fees and other fees and for items such as uniforms and books) and Improving Girls’ Access through Transforming Education (IGATE). These initiatives have resulted in increased access and gender parity in education and a significant reduction in school dropout among marginalised girls in rural schools as well as improved academic performance amongst girls at secondary school in such subjects as English and Mathematics (UNICEF 2018). But a number of barriers
to access still exist for the rural girl child, for instance, the general nega- tive attitudes toward education of the girl child and limited investment in gender sensitive structure in schools which would restrict their participa- tion (Chigodora 2017).
The extent to which issues of ethno-cultural diversity are recognised and receive adequate attention is yet another social justice concern in rural education. Questions of linguistic equity in relation to the use of both English and indigenous languages in education have generated debate among stakeholders. Firstly, the continued use of English as the language of instruction in both primary and secondary schools put rural children at a disadvantage in many ways. Most rural learners are not pro- ficient in English yet, according to Nhongo (2013), English carries the advantage in the country’s education system. Rural learners, however, lack exposure to things like the television which could help in improving proficiency in the language. The lack of proficiency has implications for rural learners’ performance not only in English but also in other subjects which are presented in English as well as public examinations particularly at ‘O’ level.
Secondly, a recurring issue has been that of marginalisation of minority languages such as Tonga, Venda, Kalanga, Shangani and others in schools.
The Education Act (1987) and subsequent amendments to the Act pro- vide for the teaching and use of these indigenous minority languages as languages of instruction up to Grade 7. This implies some recognitive justice within the education system. But the minority languages are usu- ally taught together with either Shona or Ndebele, depending on the region of the country. Some scholars view this as cultural domination and an attempt to assimilate minority language speakers into majority lan- guage groups (Ndhlovu 2007). The implementation of the Language Policy has generally been problematic and the Education Amendment 2019 acknowledges the unresolved issues relating to ethno- cultural recog- nition as it still seeks to provide for the right to language and culture, as well as the recognition of the 16 official languages of Zimbabwe almost four decades after independence. Lastly, the question of the extent to which children with religious affliliations different from mainstream reli- gions are catered for in rural education is one that demands further inter- rogation. This is particularly so in the light of debates about, for example the place of children from the Apostolic sects in schools.