Zimbabwe: Unlicensed and Outdoors or No School at All

The United Nations Development Programme recently found that Zimbabwe had a literacy rate of 92 percent - the highest in Africa - but David Coltart, minister of education, arts, sport and culture, commented: "That hardly means anything if Zimbabwe's education system remains in the state it is today. I am not accepting congratulations."

The ailing education system, once a model for sub-Saharan Africa, has buckled and all but collapsed under the economic and political crises of the past decade, when widespread food shortages, hyperinflation, cholera outbreaks, and an almost year-long strike by teachers in 2008 led to a dramatic decline in the standard of learning.

It is not uncommon for 10 pupils to share a textbook, and although the government drastically slashed school fees in 2009, deepening poverty has put even the reduced cost of attending government schools in some areas beyond the reach of thousands of children.