“EXTRA LESSONS OR EXTRA CASH”: A CASE STUDY OF SCHOOLS IN MASVINGO URBAN, ZIMBABWE, FROM A SOCIAL SCIENCES’ PERSPECTIVE

Muresherwa Edson^1† --- Hlupo Takesure² --- Chinooneka Tendeukai Isaac³ --- Nenji Simon⁴

^1,2,3,4Department of Educational Foundations: Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo Zimbabwe

Keywords:Extra-Lessons, Extra cash, Holiday lessons, Social role models, Best interest of the child, Social policies, Public schools, Needs of society, Utilitarianism, Rationalism.

Received: 16November 2016/ Revised: 28December 2016/ Accepted: 9January 2017/ Published: 21January 2017

Contribution/ Originality

This study is one of the few studies which scientifically investigated why schools organize holiday lessons and parents continue to ask their children to attend regardless of the opportunity and financial costs involved.It unusually questions whether social policies are not hurting the very people that they claim to serve.

1. BACKGROUND

Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980 after almost 100 years of British colonial rule. The colonial era was built on white supremacy, racial segregation, institutional violence and oppression of the majority African population by the white minority (Shizha, 2013). The new Government was committed to the creation of a socialist state which was guided by the principles of justice and equity. Education was declared a human right, and Education for All (EFA), became one of the key policy priorities of the new government. From the perspective of the State education was regarded as a potent tool for social and economic transformation (Nherera, 2006; Shizha, 2013). The State acknowledged that education was a basic human right, which played a pivotal role in combating ignorance, disease and poverty (Shizha, 2013).

From the perspective of parents however, education became a tool for their children to enter formal and full-time employment, at times in sectors previously the private preserve of the white community and lately, in a country where the overall unemployment rate was as high as 95% (NANGO, 2011). For this reason most parents became prepared, unaided to see their children through the education system.

To a typical Zimbabwean family, education of a child seemed like an insurance policy upon which the entire family may depend for survival in future. Families, even in rural areas became typically prepared to sacrifice everything, even an entire herd of cattle just to make sure that children see through their education and thus make them get ‘realistic’ chances of getting a full time employment and thus break away from what Haralambos and Holborn (2010) described as the vicious cycle of poverty in which poverty breeds poverty.

Independence also ushered in a period of massive urbanization as blacks now freely found their way into urban areas. This phenomenon also saw the breakdown of the extended family system as a vehicle for socialization, leaving schools as the main actors in this regard. This effectively meant that, in addition to its economic instrumentality, the education system also now played a social role with teachers adopting a role modeling function. This means, teachers had now the additional responsibility to model appropriate traits among children as they now did not only have an innate duty to dispense knowledge, but also to develop learners into good human beings in line with societal culture (Narinasamy and Logeswaran, 2015). This additional role however required that teachers be viewed and treated by everyone as typical social role models and nothing short of that(The Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe, 2012). This is particularly so as children should not be expected to take anything from people who are viewed with a negative eye in society.

It may also need to be appreciated that, in line with the society in which they are built, education systems are typically stratified. The school system in Zimbabwe for example is stratified into Government Schools, Local Government Schools, Mission Schools and the Trust Schools. In recent years, there also has been a mushrooming of independent colleges and academies. These provide both secondary and primary education. These schools are designed to provide education to children from different economic backgrounds depending with the ability of parents to pay.

Traditionally Local Government Schools, Government Schools and Mission Schools provided for the children of the poor and the middle class communities. Trust schools and the former Group ‘A’ schools because of the high fees charged catered for the children from the rich families and the bureaucracy. Parents with adequate resources were also sending their children to good schools out-side the country for the simple reason that education provided realistic chances for their children to be absorbed into the world of formal employment. In other words, most parents with resources avoided public schools where there were limited resources as a result of the very low fees paid and diminishing Government support especially after the introduction of ESAP in 1990 and the economic crisis of the decade ending 2008. As a result of the central role that a school leaving certificate was assumed to play in the future life of children, both parents and teachers seemed eager to use all legal means available to make sure that children passed examinations. On the part of teachers, this eagerness might also have been caused by the fact that, the performance of schools and their own performance were now measured in terms of the performance of children in public examinations. It was also upon this criterion that schools were ranked as either good or poor.

When the A-level examinations for 2014 were released one child from a school in Masvingo Province is said to have committed suicide on realizing that she did not do well. One parent who worked with one of the authors was also hospitalized with a mild stroke on realizing that the A-Level results for her child, whom she expected to enroll with the University of Zimbabwe to study for medicine, were not as she anticipated. The child in question was made to re-enroll with another school in the district, to repeat her A-Levels which made her able to pursue her originally envisaged goals.

What is clear here is that, whatever reason that society might claim for sending children to school, in Zimbabwe every rational parent and his/her child seemed to be looking for a good school leaving certificate which to them was a passport to full-time employment and a good future for the child. This means that any enlightened parent would do all what was possible and legally permissible for the child to see through public examinations.

The pressure on children to pass examinations may therefore be part of the reason why schools and parents strive to afford their children the opportunity to attend extra lessons of various types. More so, the examinations, which are so important, have traditionally been observed to be very difficult to pass. Since independence in 1980 for example, the average pass rate at O-level have been 20% (The Sunday Mail 16-22 February 2014). This predominantly low average pass rate may be read to mean that the country through the examination system is reducing up to 80% of its people in to hopelessness and failure.SCMZ (2012) described this chronically low pass rate in Zimbabwe’s education system as the manifestation of a neglected generation. This gives credence to the notion that, schools might have been organizing for holiday lessons and parents paying for these lessons to try and ensure that their individual children manage to go through the restrictive sieve - the examination system. If this is true, then policy makers should be seen to be supporting and not frustrating the schools’ and parents effort to ensure that children pass examinations. Doing so may not be in the best interest of the child and may amount to using social policies to hurt the very people that these policies are meant to protect.

What was striking in the Zimbabwean situation was that, Ministry and some members of the general public have not been mean with their words on teachers and schools that organized for holiday lessons, describing them either as, lazy, greedy and extortionist (The Herald 7/04/14). In other words, at one time, extra-lessons were seen as serving no other purpose than providing extra cash for greedy teachers who felt that, they were being under paid by their employer and should compensate their low salaries by extorting funds from unsuspecting parents (The News Day 5/8/2014). At one time, the Ministry actually banned these lessons (The Herald 7/05/14). This is regardless of the fact that these lessons were provided for in The Director’s Circular number 14 of 2005.

It was unfortunate that, some trade unions in the sector who argued for extra lessons typically indicated that, these amounted to innovation on the part of teachers reeling under very difficult economic circumstances (The Herald 7/04/14). In other words they supported the notion that, extra-lessons were meant to raise extra cash for underpaid teachers. It was however not clear whether the trade unionists were truly speaking the language of teachers or were mere grant standing, typical of trade unionists.

To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, practicing teachers themselves and the actual parents of children involved had not been given any chance to speak on this important issue that directly affected them. The question of whether extra-lessons were really necessary and not just being used as sources of extra cash for greedy and extortionist teachers remained largely unanswered. From the perspective of the researchers it was felt that, the available answers to this question, although used to inform policy, originated from emotional and unscientific methods. At face value, it appeared these were coming from people who themselves were hard hit by the same economic hardships in which teachers found themselves as members of the same society who might have been venting off their feeling on the defenseless teacher.

Due to these economic hardships, emotions seemed to have been generally very high and very few members of society could support teachers already labeled as extortionists, or listen to their story even on issues that directly affected them as professionals. Even parents with children in schools seemed to have been very quiet over issues that were likely to affect their children in a negative way. The situation may best be described as that of by-stander apathy on issues affecting members of the teaching fraternity in Zimbabwe with very little if any scientific effort to understand the reality on the ground.

The current study was therefore carried out to provide scientific answers to the question of whether extra-lesson were organized to raise extra cash for greedy and extortionist teachers who were underpaid by their employer or were in responds to the needs of society. In other words, this study sought to establish if extra-lessons were organized in the best interest of the child.

It was assumed that the findings from this study may help decision makers to approach the issues at stake with a sober mind, rather than using a naïve approach and personal whims on matters that have a direct bearing on the future life of children and the families from which they come. There was also the danger that if Ministry would ban or disturb extra-lessons organized by schools, when society felt they were really necessary, such lessons would migrate from classrooms into people’s homes and end up in ‘bedrooms,’ especially in urban settings, typical of Masvingo urban. This would expose children to abuse.

On the part of the Government, banning of extra lessons when society and real parents of children in schools and their children see them as necessary would be akin to using social policies to hurt the very people that these policies seek to protect. A study of this nature was therefore found fitting as the resultant recommendations had the potential to assist policy makers to craft policies that provide appropriate and not whimsical solutions to the perceived problems affecting society. This may also protect the image and integrity of members of the teaching profession in line with the ‘Teacher Professional Standards’ document, as currently envisaged by the Ministry (The Government of Zimbabwe, 2015).

To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, the area of focus for the current study was still very green in terms of research, especially in the perspective of the Zimbabwean society. Literature has however shown that extra-lessons were really a thorny issue, with varying views and descending voices across the social divide (News Day 20/04/13; News Day 30/06/14).Jinga and Ganga (2011) for example carried out a study on the effects of holiday lessons and financial pressures on low-income families and households in Masvingo, Zimbabwe.

This study, whilst correctly acknowledged that extra-lessons were a cost to families, it did not fully address the question of their usefulness and why people from across the social divide continued to send their children to attend these lessons, regardless of the financial and opportunity costs entailed. They also failed to identify that, any lessons that were paid for had strong financial implications and opportunity costs on the sponsors. Their study also concentrated only on the holiday lessons version of the extra-lessons, whilst leaving out other forms of the same.

It may need to be appreciated that, in Zimbabwe, education in general has always been a cost to parents, with limitless opportunity costs. To single out extra-lessons and blame them for negatively affecting the nutrition of households without establishing why people continued to send their children for these lessons regardless of the costs involved may amount to trivializing a non-trivial social activity. To claim, in the absence of research that parents were forced by teachers to send their children for extra-lessons and that teachers were not teaching during normal teaching hours (News Day 30/06/14) in preference for teaching during extra-lessons may amount to being naïve in both thought and practice. This may also amount to naively blaming for inefficiency and ineffectiveness, the entire education supervision machinery, in a country that boasts of the best education in Africa. This is particularly worrisome when such unsubstantiated claims are used to inform policy.

Bray and Kwok (2003) carried out a study on the demand for private supplementary tutoring in Hong Kong. Like Jinga and Ganga (2011) this study also revealed that surely extra-lessons were not meritocratic in that children from poor backgrounds were not benefiting. This was so because as was the case in Zimbabwe, these lessons were normally paid for outside the normal school fees.Bray and Kwok (2003) were however quick to concede that extra-lessons were associated with a number of benefits and hence society needed them even if they were not meritocratic in nature. At least those who afforded should be accorded the opportunity to attend (Bray and Kwok, 2003).

According to Haralambos and Holborn (2010) however, education in its various forms has never been meritocratic. From this perspective, it can be argued that, expecting extra -lessons to be meritocratic, when education systems in general are themselves never meritocratic might be to expect too much from this subsystem of the education system. In the current study, this is particularly so given that Zimbabwe itself has a capitalist economy characterized by capitalistic competition in all spheres of life including education.

The key point here was therefore that, the issue of extra lessons as carried out in Zimbabwe had not been fully understood. It was felt that, those people who dared to comment on this topic were using what Judd et al. (1991) described as a naïve approach to drawing conclusions. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, no research had been carried out in Zimbabwe, focusing on whether extra lessons were carried out in response to the needs of society or as a way of raising extra cash for greedy, underpaid and extortionist teachers who aimed at fleecing unsuspecting parents of their hard earned money. The current study was therefore designed to provide scientific answers and recommendations on this contentious issue. It was felt that, the findings of this basic research may also ensure that society will not further destroy the already damaged image of teachers upon which children depend for ethical role modeling in the face of a decomposed extended family system (Narinasamy and Logeswaran, 2015).

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The study is guided by the theories of utilitarianism and rationality. Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the consequences of choosing one action/policy over alternative actions/policies. For many utilitarian thinkers, an act is right when it is useful in bringing about something with an inherent positive value. For Bentham and Mill these intrinsic goods are pleasure and happiness (freedom from pain). In simple terms, the utilitarian theory holds that, the useful is good. This means, an act/policy is right when it is useful in bringing about an end that every rational person values. This also translates to saying that every rational person will pursue ends with a utilitarian value. This means that, if parents and guardians continued on their own accord to seek extra lessons for their children, there should have been a perceived intrinsic value in the same, unless if they were being coerced to do so. From this perspective, it was found fitting to carry out a study on whether parents in Masvingo urban, as a starting point were actively and on their own accord, seeking extra lessons for their children or else they were being forced by greedy teachers who intended to extort them of their hard earned cash. If parents were actively looking for extra lessons for their children, then there was need to establish what intrinsic value was attached to these extra lessons. The study was carried out in the background of what appears to be a serious case of policy inconsistency on the part of the regulatory authorities and confusion on the part of schools as policy implementers, on the way to go.

3. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

• Masvingo urban: The area under the municipality of the city of Masvingo and its immediate surroundings.

• Extra-lessons: Lessons given outside the normal learning time either during the holidays, weekends or at the end of the normal learning day.

• Extra-cash: Cash that is up and above one’s salary and is meant to supplement the normal salary.

• Ministry: Unless otherwise stated, the term Ministry in the current study refers to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education.

• Public schools: Schools other than private schools which provide education opportunities to children from the poor and middle class communities.

4. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The background to the current study has revealed that, for millions of children throughout the world, formal education does not end when the school bell rings to mark the end of a school day (Bray and Kwok, 2003). Even though extra-lessons have serious cost implications to the families concerned (Jinga and Ganga, 2011) many children in Zimbabwe still proceeded from their respective schools, with or without a break, to extra lessons of one form or the other. At times these lessons were attended during weekends, school holidays or even public holidays. From a utilitarian perspective, there should have been a good reason for this practice. Whilst on the one hand society seemed to have been looking for extra-lessons for their intrinsic value however, at some stage, Ministry seemed to have been under immense pressure to ban them. It only ran short of criminalizing them as an effort by greedy and extortionist teachers seeking to raise extra-cash from unsuspecting parents (The News Day 5/8/2014). Questions were therefore abound as to whether the matter was about extra-lessons for their intrinsic value or was of greedy and extortionist teachers targeting vulnerable and unsuspecting parents. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge no study had been carried out in Zimbabwe to provide informed answers to such questions. If anything answers were provided from the perspective of what Judd et al. (1991) defined as a naïve approach which can never be relied upon on issues of this high level of significance. The current study therefore sought to scientifically establish whether schools were organizing extra-lessons for their intrinsic value or else this was the work of greedy and extortionist teachers targeting unsuspecting parents.

5. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study sought to establish:

• The origin of extra lessons in general and paid for extra lessons in the Zimbabwean public schools system.

• How extra lessons were organized, and which categories of learners were made to attend.

• Why parents/guardians continued to make their children attend extra-lessons regardless of the financial and opportunity costs entailed.

• Whether teachers were no longer teaching effectively during normal lessons to force children to attend paid extra lessons

6. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• When and how did extra lessons find their way into the Zimbabwean public schools system?

• How were the extra lessons organized, and which categories of students were made to attend?

• Why did parents/ guardians continue to make their children attend extra-lessons regardless of the financial and opportunity costs involved?

• How valid is the claim that teachers were no longer teaching effectively during normal lessons in preference for teaching during extra-lessons?

7. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study was constraint by financial limitations as it was self-financed from the limited resources of the researchers. This affected the sample size which could have been made larger if funding was richly available. It was however felt that the sample size used was still large enough to ensure that the research findings remained as valid and reliable as was humanly possible.

8. DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study was restricted to formal schools in Masvingo urban which conducted extra-lessons. Whilst there were a number of private colleges from which children accessed extra-lessons, such institutions were outside the scope of the current study. Boarding schools were also left out as these were assumed to have different socio-cultural and socio-economic settings and children learning there were perceived to be coming from a different social stratum than those in day schools.

9. ASSUMPTIONS

• An average human being is rational in both thought and practice. It is therefore always possible to explore the reason for his/her action.

• Education the world over is not a meritocracy. To pretend that extra-lessons should be meritocratic in such a setting is to be utopian in both thought and practice.

10. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study adopted a qualitative research design. In particular, the case study approach of Masvingo urban schools was adopted. The face to face interview method was used to collect the data that was needed to provide answers to the research questions at hand.

Strauss and Corbin (1990) felt that, qualitative research methods such as interviews were important in that, they can be used to uncover and understand what lies behind anything about which very little is yet known. Jita and Mokhele (2013)echoing earlier work byMerriam (1998)saw qualitative research as an effort to understand situations in their uniqueness and natural setting. This understanding is an end in itself, so that it is not attempting to predict what may happen in the future necessarily, but to understand the nature of that setting, what it means for the research participants to be in that setting, what their lives are like, what is going on for them, what their meanings are, what the world looks like in that setting and, in the final analysis to be able to communicate that ‘reality’ faithfully to others who are interested in the issues at stake. The researcher used this method because its naturalistic nature rendered the research participants the ability to freely express what they felt about the issues at stake in the study(Babbie, 1998).Henning (2005)described this as a descriptive survey.

The sampling frame consisted of all the School Heads in the schools in Masvingo urban. It also consisted of all the ‘O’ and ‘A’-level students in these schools for the academic year 2015. All teachers and parents of the O and A level children in these schools also constituted the sampling frame.

The sample consisted of four School Heads, twenty teachers, twenty school pupils and twenty parents. Purposive sampling techniques were used to draw the samples of research participants. This allowed the researchers to work with research participants that had the required information. This was premised on the fact that, for the researchers to discover, understand and gain in-depth knowledge about the issue at stake they ought to select a sample from which more could be learnt (Merriam, 1998).

Research findings were presented, analyzed and discussed in line with what Ponterotto (2006) citing earlier work by Ryle (1949) referred to as the thick description approach. This approach fully captures the thoughts, emotions, and the whole web of social interaction among observed participants in their operating environment (Ponterotto, 2006). For this reason, it was found very fitting for the problem at hand which called for a deep understanding of the thoughts, feeling and emotions of the research participants on the issues at stake.

11. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The qualitative nature of the study meant that no harm was inflicted on the participants. Informed concert was also sought from the research participants who were also fully informed on the purpose of the study. Participants were also informed that data sources were not going to be exposed. This condition was strictly observed throughout the study in which even names of participating institutions were never mentioned to ensure anonymity of data sources.

12. DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This part of the study focuses on the presentation, analysis and discussion of research findings.

12.1. Data Presentation and Analysis

Data is here presented, and analyzed in line with the themes that were derived from each of the four objectives upon which the study was grounded.

12.1.1. Origin of Extra Lessons

The first objective as stated in section 5 of the current study sought to establish the origin of extra lessons in the schools studied. Both teachers and school heads were asked as to what they felt was the origin of extra-lessons. To this effect, 96% of the respondents indicated that extra-lessons have been there in one form or the other, since independence. They were partly a product of the massive expansion of in the provision of education and the introduction of automatic promotion following the attainment of independence in 1980.The only difference was that originally these lessons were not paid for. The following verbal quotes from some of the research participants show the general feelings about the origin of extra-lessons in the schools studied:

Extra-lessons have always been there. The only difference is that they have not been paid for as teachers were adequately rewarded and could afford to travel between home and school without any problem (School Head 1).

Extra-lessons came into being at the advent of independence and the introduction of automatic promotion of children throughout the education system. Some of the children who find themselves into secondary schools are naturally not expected to pass examinations. Vamwe vanotoda kudhoverera (some of them need drilling). To help them, we therefore need extra lessons (School Head, 2).

I myself am a product of extra-lessons at this very same school. I am a product of this school and since the time that I was here, these lessons were here. I have seen it working for me and when I became a teacher I felt like giving back to the very community which made me what I am and hence I decided to also provide extra-lessons (Teacher Participant).

Extra-lessons found their way into schools as both teachers and schools competed to produce the best results in public examinations. Teachers with examination classes wanted to adequately and effectively prepare their children for examinations in an examination driven education system (Teacher participant).

In this school, we introduced extra-lessons after it was realized that our children were seeking for these lessons elsewhere, including private colleges or even people’s houses. This had the danger that, our children would be mis-taught, as they would be exposed to untrained teachers who may not even have appropriate syllabi. There was also the danger that children, especially the girl children will be abused. We can therefore safely say that, we introduced extra-lessons, in response to the needs of society (School Head 2).

Extra lessons have always been taught in this school. Teachers have often wanted to assist their children to pass examinations. Remember that, this school is non-selective. We just take everyone. If we do not teach extra-lessons, that will be disaster (Teacher participant).

The verbal utterances above seemed to generally agree that extra-lessons were not a recent occurrence in Zimbabwe. If anything, they have been available for quite some time. This implied that they were remotely if ever associated with the low teachers’ salaries of the period after dollarization.

12.2. How Extra-Lessons Were Organized

The second objective given in section 5 aimed at establishing how the holiday lessons were organised. In other words, it sought to establish which classes were made to attend to these lessons, whether the lessons were always paid for and if not, how the practice of paid for holiday lessons came into being. Under this objective, the study also sought to establish whether schools just organised holiday lessons without the involvement and concurrence of the Ministry. The verbal utterances below summarise the general pattern of the responses given by research participants on these issues:

In this school we have always organised holiday lessons only for examination classes. For the non-exam classes extra-lessons have always been given in the form of remedial work for the slow learners and extension work for gifted children. These are conducted during the normal teaching time and not during school holidays (Teacher participant).

I don’t know where this allegation of schools organising holiday lessons for non-examinations classes is coming from. It appears people without any knowledge of what is happening in schools just say things that they are not sure about (School Head 3).

Gentleman, maticha vane ropa rehwayi (Teachers have the blood of a sheep). People can say anything about teachers with impunity. Regayi zvakadaro ivo vabereki ndivo vachachema kana vana vavo votadza kupasa (leave them like that. Parents shall cry foul when their children fail to do well in public examinations). Parents should categorically tell the political leadership that, with the type of children we enrol in our schools, holiday lessons are very necessary. These are for the good of the child and are organised for the classes that are due for examinations to make sure that these children pass examinations which are a keyhole to their future life (School Head 3).

I still have to see a school which organise holiday lessons for grade one or form one children. Our problem is that of people who sensationalise issues. Some of the people who peddle these lies do not even have children in schools. They only want to tarnish the emerge of the teacher. Real parents want their children attend extra-lessons even at a cost (Teacher respondent).

When asked as to whether extra-lessons have always been paid for, 88% of the teacher respondents indicated that, originally these lessons have not been paid for. Only 12% were not very sure. This consisted of fairly young teachers who just joined the teaching profession in recent years. The current study revealed that, the practice of paying for holiday lessons was a recent occurrence. When asked as to why lessons were now being paid for, most of the responses were in line with the verbal utterances as captured below:

In this school and in the peak of the economic meltdown during the decade ending 2008 most teachers would go down South during school holidays either to sell commodities like round nuts and/or to search for casual employment so that they would supplement their salaries whose value had been eroded by inflation. The same teachers would also bring back home basic commodities such as sugar and soap which they sold to raise extra-cash. As school authorities, we would therefore ask teachers with examination classes to remain behind and assist their classes. To motivate them to remain behind, school authorities with the concurrence of Ministry asked parents to pay a small amount towards incentivizing these teachers. This made the teachers stay in the classroom and is how paid for extra lessons came into being. These have survived up to this day as still the teachers’ salaries are very low to afford them to come to school during the holiday and forgo other life opportunities from which they can raise resources to support their families (School Head 1).

We were asking parents to pay for holiday lesson, not because we wanted teachers to enrich themselves. We only wanted to make sure that, teachers would be able to afford coming for extra-lessons which we felt had a very strong impact towards improving our pass rates. The little amount of money that we give them enables them to continue coming to school to assist our children at a time when other teachers will be on holiday, doing other things that augment their salaries (School Head 4).

Society seems to think that it is schools in general and teachers in particular who need holiday lessons. People do not understand that, it is parents themselves who push for extra-lessons for their children. Most people who talk against holiday lessons may not even have children at school. Those who do have them and are serious with the education of their children actually pray that schools have holiday lessons (School Head 1).

People do not take teachers seriously. The situation in Zimbabwe today is such that, everyone is virtually a vendor. During the school holidays, I may want to go to China Tanzania or South Africa like everyone else to buy items for resell back home and augment my salary and make sure that my children also go to school and I will be able to pay rent and food for the family. By the way you may need to be aware that as a father, I am the bread winner in my family and have two children at primary school, two at secondary school and my first born child is now doing second year at university. The $400 that I earn as a teacher cannot afford me to pay for these basic needs. Expecting me to offer extra-lessons for no pay under these circumstances is to expect too much from a mere mortal (teacher respondent).

I don’t want to accept the idea of paid for holiday lessons as if we were getting pay as it were. What we were being given was only a token amount to allow us to travel between home and school and at least buy for myself food when at school, offering a service which I feel is needed by my clients. This money is not meant to make me rich, but to afford me the energy to come to school and assist the needy children. In any case, it is not every time that I will be receiving this allowance. I only get it when I will be having examination classes. All the other times I will be doing other things to raise money to also send my children to school and have them eat. I do not teach to get this money. I get the money because I teach and so that I am able to pay for my transport to and from my workplace (Teacher respondent).

I don’t personally want to teach during the holiday. I only do so after I am persuaded by my headmaster to do so. Paholiday ndinonotoda kujingilisa kuti ndiwane mari yekuti vana vangu vapinde chikoro (During the holiday, I may want to do this or that to raise money to pay fees for my children). I feel that receiving something for teaching during school holidays is only a way of motivating me to forgo other things and come to teach at a time when others are out for the holiday and to make me able to travel to school and back home (Teacher respondent).

Holiday lessons were always organised with the concurrence of the Ministry, which approves both fees and time tables and supervise the programme. The picture which is being painted is as if teachers just do it without Ministry support. This is not correct. In any case you may need to be informed that in 2014 when Ministry banned holiday lessons O-level results in this school dropped from 36% to 28%. In 2015 when Ministry relaxed its policy on the issue, results increased to 43%. This shows how important these lessons are (School Head 4).

In fact it is the Ministry which authorised schools to give some form of incentives for teachers to attract them to at least help learners at a time when it was getting very difficult for the educators to remain in the classroom. To pretend that teachers just woke-up one day and introduce extra-lessons is to miss the point and to mislead the public. (School head 2)

What emerged from this part of the study is that, extra-lessons were only organised for examinations classes and not any other classes. This means that, at primary schools, such lessons were organised for grade 7 pupils and at secondary school level, these were organised for forms 4 and 6, to prepare them for final examinations. The verbal narrations above show that, before the ban, Ministry was directly involved in organising and regulating especially holiday lessons, although at some stage, it appeared to disown the programme with no clear policy on the way forward.

12.3. Why Parents Continued to Send Children for Extra Lessons

The third objective as stated in section 5 focuses on why parents/guardians continued to make their children attend extra-lessons regardless of the financial implications involved. All the research participants in the current study concurred that extra-lessons were beneficial to their children. The verbal quotes below give a picture of the general pattern of responses given in this respect:

What you should understand is that in present day Zimbabwe, education is the key to a better life. As a parent there is no better inheritance that you can leave with your child other than the gift of education. For this reason, I can safely say that like any good parent I am prepared to do all what it takes to see to it that my child passes her examinations (Parent respondent).

I know my child is not very bright but with assistance from teachers he will do well. To increase his chances of passing his examinations, I will make him attend extra lessons for those subjects in which he has problems and I am prepared to pay for that (Parent respondent).

Holiday lessons in particular will afford my child chance to be temporarily enrolled in a school outside his/her own, where there may be one or two better teachers for certain subjects than the ones in his/her school (Parent respondent).

I understand that Ministry does not want teachers to teach extra-lessons or teach during the holiday. I however want to make sure that, my child passes his examinations. As a result,, even if it means that I will take my child to a teacher’s house at 12 mid-nights when Ministry officials and police officers are asleep and take him back home at 3AM, before they wake-up, I will do so. I want to see to it that my child passes his examinations. Iko kudzidzisa vana kwakazosungisa riini? (When did educating a child become criminal?) (Parent respondent).

What people should appreciate is that in this country, every upright parent is more than prepared to educate h/her child unaided. The powers that be should therefore create an environment that promotes and not one that hinders education. Our children are our insurance policies. We want to nurse them now so that they look after us when we get old.. We are prepared to do all what it takes to see them through their examinations (Parent respondent).

At times we just sacrifice to make sure that our children are not left behind. We just do what others are doing, but it is difficult to raise the money. Teachers may better teach everything in class other than leaving something for extra-lessons (Parent respondent).

My friend these lessons have helped our children in a very big way. At one time I had a child whom I persuaded one school head to enroll into form five with mere six Cs at O-level. Worse still these were from three sittings. By all standards my child was not A-Level material. As a result of

these lessons, my child passed with eight points at A-level and is already at university. If he did not attend extra-lessons, my child could have been doomed (Parent respondent).

I am better of having my child at school even during the holidays than leaving her at home, playing on the streets as I go to work. In the hands of teachers, I feel my child is safe than on the street. (Parent respondent).

The verbal utterances above indicated that, generally, parents sent their children for holiday lessons on their own accord without being coerced to do so. The current study revealed that even very senior people in the community asked teachers to assist their children during the school holidays. Examples were given of very high ranking civil servants who approached teachers and asked them to organize extra-lessons at home for their children, when they were the ones who supervised the ban of extra lessons by the Ministry. These examples helped to show that everyone was eager to see his/her children passing public examinations and hence needed extra-tuition.

12.4. Teachers No Longer Teaching During Normal Lessons

The forth objective as given in section 5 of the current study sought to establish if teachers in Masvingo urban schools were no longer teaching seriously during normal working hours in order to force parents to send their children for paid for holiday lessons. The verbal quotes below showed that, such claims were not necessarily true for Masvingo urban schools. 100% of both learners and teacher participants, and 90% of parents felt that, this was not so.

To say that teachers do not teach during the normal working hours in preference for teaching during paid for holiday lessons is to insult the entire supervisory structure in the education sector. People should appreciate that there is in the education sector, an entire supervisory structure stretching from the children themselves, Heads of Departments, School Heads, Education Inspectors, and even the Provincial education Directorate, among others. Can you imagine the whole system allowing teachers to lazy around? Is that possible? (School Head 4).

I feel the claim that, teachers were not teaching in normal teaching hours because they want to force children to attend holiday lessons is made by people who do not have a full appreciation of how the education system is supervised. If they do, then this claim signifies that such people subscribe to theory Y assumptions which do not trust workers to have control of how they work (School Head, 2).

How can I fail to perform in class when there is a scheme of work to follow, performance objectives to be realized and the HOD and the School Head to supervise my work? Teaching is my KRA (Teacher Respondent).

It should be appreciated that lazy teachers will never attract children for holiday lessons. Parents would prefer to take their children to some other schools where they know there are better teachers for certain subjects rather than being stuck with a lazy teacher who waste their time during the normal school term. Learners are not normally lenient with teachers who waste their time (Teacher respondent).

I do not agree with people who claim that teachers stop working effectively during normal working hours because they want to force us to attend holiday lessons. During holiday lessons we normally do not learn new things. We only revisit but this time more thoroughly and with more time, the things that we did in the classroom. During the other times we will be rushing to complete the syllabus as dictated by the examination system. We also use the time to revise our work with the assistance of our teachers (Student respondent).

I will not attend an extra-lesson for a teacher whom I do not have faith in. During the normal term I can attend the lesson because there is no option, but during school holidays, I can even go to a neighbouring school to seek the services of what I feel is the best teacher and come back to my school (Student respondent).

During holiday lessons, we are not necessarily forced to be taught by our usual teachers. I may enroll with two schools to take advantage of the best teachers in each case (Student respondent).

Teachers who do not do well during the term in preference for teaching during the holiday will only be undermining themselves. They will also be jeopardizing their chances of having a good pass rate, from which they get performance based awards (Teacher respondent).

Holiday lessons are only aimed at cementing what was learnt in the normal school term and ensure that learners do well in public examinations and also prevent a situation where children will seek for alternative tutoring elsewhere, where there are chances of them being mis-taught or be abused. You may need to appreciate that our education system is highly examination based (Teacher respondent).

I do not know what is wrong with our people in this country. Zimbabwe has one of the best education systems in Africa, with the highest literacy rate, but my fellow countrymen still feel that teachers are not good enough (School Head 1).

The verbal quotes above showed that, it was not really possible for teachers to lazy around during normal working ours to force children to attend paid for extra-lessons. The verbal utterances seemed to jive with the observation that, people who make such claims do not really appreciate how the education system is supervised and that if such people are within the Ministry, this shows their inclination to theory Y assumptions, the basis of scientific management.

13. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The current section discusses the findings under four sub-headings derived directly from the research objectives upon which the study was grounded, namely, the origin of extra lessons in Zimbabwean schools, how extra lessons were organized, why parents continued to send children forextra lessons regardless of the financial and opportunity costs involved and whether it was true that teachers were no longer teaching during the normal teaching/lessons periods, in preference for teaching during extra lessons.

Objective 1: To establish the origin of extra lessons in general and paid for extra lessons in the Zimbabwean public schools system.

It emerged from the current study that extra-lessons have always been there. The only difference was that they have not been paid for as teachers were adequately rewarded and could afford to travel between home and school without any problem. The current study revealed that in their current form, extra-lessons came into being at the advent of independence and the introduction of automatic promotion of children throughout the education system when Zimbabwe gained its independence. Some of the children who now find themselves into secondary schools for example would naturally not be expected to pass examinations without an extra effort from both teachers and the education system in general. Extra lessons may therefore be said to have partly been started in response to the inclusionary nature of the post-independence education system which saw a preponderance of children with learning difficulties into the secondary schools.

It also emerged from the current study that in some cases, extra-lessons found their way into schools when both teachers and schools started to compete to produce the best results in public examinations. Teachers with examination classes now wanted to adequately and effectively prepare their children for examinations in an examination driven education system. In some cases, extra-lessons were introduced after it was realized that children from schools that were not offering them were now seeking these lessons elsewhere, including in private colleges or even people’s houses. This had the danger that, children would be mis-taught and that, children, especially the girl children would be abused as they sought for extra lessons outside the controlled school system to include people’s home.

It also emerged from the current study that, extra-lessons did not come into being in response to economic hardships. The study revealed that, there were many factors that contributed to the introduction of extra lessons in Zimbabwe’s education system. In terms of the current study, poverty among members of the teaching fraternity was not one of them. If anything, most schools introduced extra lessons in response to the needs of society. This was well before the economic crisis of the decade ending 2008. Automatic promotion of learners from one grade/form to the other, the massive expansion of the education system, the over-emphasis on examinations, typical of the Zimbabwe education system since independence, coupled with the high level of unemployment characteristic of the Zimbabwean economy in recent years all contributed towards the introduction of extra-lessons. The high levels of unemployment meant that learners had to leave the school system with good certificates which increased their chances of being absorbed into the highly competitive Zimbabwean formal employment sector.

Objective 2: To establish how extra lessons were organized, and the categories of learners who were made to attend.

It emerged from this study that holiday lessons were organized with the blessing of the Ministry. As a result, Ministry would authorize fees payable by learners attending holiday lessons in schools. Ministry also supervised these holiday lessons and would determine the number of days that childrenwere expected to attend them before they joined others for the school holiday. For this reason, the lessons in Masvingo urban were very organized and coordinated in line with The Director’s Circular number 14 of 2005. It also emerged from the current study that, extra-lessons in Masvingo urban were organized only for examination classes. This meant that, at primary school level, such lessons were organised for grade 7 pupils and at secondary school level, these were organised for forms 4 and 6, to prepare them for final examinations in line with Ministerial regulations. .

The current study also revealed that, extra-lessons have not always been paid for. It emerged that the practice of paying for holiday lessons in particular was a recent occurrence. Extra-lessons other than holiday lessons were never paid for. Teachers would freely organise extra-lessons for their classes, either in the afternoon or over the weekend, without asking for any payment. Only holiday lessons were paid for, as schools sought find ways to enable teachers to travel to and from work at a time when other teachers were on holiday.

It emerged from the current study that in most schools, holiday lessons started to be paid for at the peak of the economic meltdown, during the decade ending 2008. During the time, most teachers would go to South Africa during school holidays either to sell commodities like round nuts and/or in search of part-time employment so that they would supplement their salaries whose value had been eroded by the hyper-inflation which characterised the Zimbabwean economy during the time. These teachers would also bring back home basic commodities such as sugar and soap which would be sold to raise extra-cash for survival. Teachers with examination classes were asked by school authorities to remain behind preparing their classes for examinations. In order to motivate them to remain behind, as other trekked down South, school authorities with the concurrence of Ministry asked parents to pay a small amount of money towards incentivizing these teachers. This effectively made the teachers stay in the classroom. This is how paid for extra lessons found their way into the school system.

What is said above shows that paid for holiday lessons did not come into being as a result of teachers’ greedy. They were not designed to enrich extortionist teachers but only to motivate teachers to provide their much needed service during a difficult period in the history of the country.

The current study revealed that whilst the picture that was being painted suggested that, it was schools in general and teachers in particular who needed holiday lessons, reality had it that, it was parents themselves and their children who pushed for extra-lessons. Whilst teachers may have wanted to join others who went outside the country to buy wares for resell and thus augment their salaries and make sure that their children also go to school, parents and school authorities wanted them to assist their children to pass public examinations which were increasingly becoming very difficult to pass.

The study revealed that some teachers did not even want to teach during school holidays. They only did so after they were persuaded by their school heads. In some cases, it was parents themselves who approached them and persuaded them to conduct extra-lessons for their children. The current study revealed that, even very high ranking members of the civil service approached teachers even after the ban of holiday lessons to persuade them to conduct holiday lessons for their children. This showed that regardless of the ban, every rational parent still felt that extra-lessons could immensely contribute towards improving the chances of children passing their final examinations.

Objective, 3: To establish why parents/guardians continued to make their children attend extra-lessons regardless of the financial implications involved.

It emerged from this study that, for most parents the best form of inheritance that they thought they could leave for their children was the gift of a good education. For this reason, parents were prepared to do all what was legally permissible to ensure that their children pass examination. To most parents and in terms of the Zimbabwean law extra-lessons had never been legislated against, as a criminal activity. For this reason, parents were very concerned as to why their children were at one point denied the chance to do something that will surely benefit them.

Parents also felt that they were very key stakeholders in the education of their children. This explained why education was paid for and parents taking their children to schools that they afforded. It was felt that if parents themselves would not see to it that their children received the best education that they afforded, no one would do it for them. It was an accepted reality among many parents that, in the face of the high rate of unemployment, typical of the Zimbabwean situation in recent years, the only way to give children a realistic chance of being formerly employed was to afford them good education and hence, a good school leaving certificate.

It also emerged from the current study that, in Zimbabwe, every upright parent was more than prepared to educate h/her child unaided as much as possible. This implied that, the powers that be should therefore create an environment that promotes and not one that hinders education. People in Zimbabwe appreciated that, their children were their future. They wanted to nurse their children to effectively prepare for a highly competitive future.

It further emerged from the current study that, instead of being forced to send their children for extra-lessons, most parents who could afford actually hunted for the opportunities for their children to attend holiday lessons. This was regardless of the fact that some parents were unable to afford sending their children for these lessons, in the same way as there were parents who could not afford to send their children even to the cheapest of the cheap schools in their community. This was not really an issue as it was normal of a capitalist society typical of Zimbabwe today. The general feeling was that, those parents who afforded to educate their children unaided needed to be allowed to do so undisturbed and those who needed support should be the candidates for assistance by donors and the government itself.

Objective 4:To establish whether teachers were no longer teaching effectively during normal lessons to force parents to make their children attend paid for extra-lessons

It emerged from the current study that, the claim that teachers in Zimbabwean schools were no longer teaching effectively during the normal teaching time in order to force parents to send their children for extra-lessons was not true of the situation at least in Masvingo urban schools. The current study revealed that parents did not just send their children to any teacher. For extra-lessons, most parents preferred to send their children to reputable teachers. Failure to effectively teach during formal lessons would in a way de-campaign teachers when it came to them trying to attract children for paid for extra-lessons. This was particularly so given that, with holiday lessons, children were not of necessity restricted to their formal schools. Instead, they could even go to a neighbouring school to seek the services of what were felt to be the best teachers in certain subjects and come back to their schools to attend lessons for what they felt were the best teachers in these schools.

It also emerged from the current study that, holiday lessons in particular were not as informally organized as people may be made to believe. The system in Masvingo urban was so well coordinated that Ministry in addition to authorizing the fees charged would also determine the time table, and supervise the programme.

The education system in general was also very well structured and so well supervised to afford the country to have one of the best education systems in Africa. To say that teachers did not teach during the normal working hours in preference for teaching during paid for holiday lessons may therefore amount to an insult to the entire supervisory system in the education sector. It is to accept that the entire instructional leadership system, stretching from the Heads of Departments, School Heads, Education Inspectors, District Education Officers and even the Provincial education Directorate, does not work. Such a claim does not sound intelligible in a country that boasts of one of the best education systems in Africa. It has therefore emerged from the current study that, the claim that extortionist teachers were no longer teaching effectively during normal lessons to force parents to send their children for extra-lessons was not as valid as its high sounding overtone at least in Masvingo urban schools; a focus of this study. Whilst this had the potential to raise societal emotions against teachers, the current study revealed that there was no way teachers would lazy around during normal lessons and still escape the watchful eyes of a very well-oiled supervisory machinery characteristic of the Zimbabwean education system in recent years. The current study however established that, the conclusion by Jinga and Ganga (2011) that paid for extra lessons were a cost to society was very valid. This is however true of all goods and services in a capitalist economic system typical of Zimbabwe. This is also even true of health services. As families are expected to pay for their medical bills even in the face of life threatening ailments, parents are also expected to pay for the education of their children if ever they dream that their children should receive the best education on offer in a capitalist economic system. To pretend that education is a meritocracy in a capitalistic economic system where even health services were paid for was to be utopian both in thought and practice. The study confirmed the conclusion by Bray and Kwok (2003) that, although extra-lessons were a cost to parents, their benefits outweighed the costs.

14. CONCLUSIONS

The following conclusions were drawn from the findings of the current study:

14.1. Origins of Extra-Lessons

It emerged from the current study that, extra-lessons were not introduced in Zimbabwe’s education system when teachers started to experience economic hardships following the economic meltdown of the decade ending 2008. The current study revealed that extra-lessons became particularly fashionable after independence. During this period, the Zimbabwean education system expanded phenomenally. This expansion increased the number of school leavers with good school leaving certificates in a shrinking economy characterized by rising unemployment. The expansion of the education system also meant that children who would otherwise not qualify to be enrolled into the secondary schools system found their way into the same. To ensure that children leave schools with a good school leaving certificate; a passport to formal employment in a country with shrinking employment opportunities, schools then started to organize for extra-lessons for their children. At first, the extra-lessons even in the form of holiday lessons were not paid for. The holiday lesson version of the extra-lessons only started to be paid for during the peak of Zimbabwe’s economic crisis ending 2008 and whose effects were still felt even up to the period of the study. Other than holiday lessons, school based extra-lessons organized by teachers, for example in the afternoon or weekends were not paid for. Most teachers used these to prepare their children to pass examinations for which they were rewarded by schools when results were out.

14.2. Organization of Extra-Lessons

The current study revealed that, holiday lessons in particular have always been organized with the blessing of the Ministry. Schools would apply for both authority to offer holiday lessons and the fees changeable after studying the proposed budget. At the same time, Ministry would determine the timetables and supervise the implementation of the programme. It also emerged from the current study that, the school based holiday lessons were organized only for examination classes and not any other class. Parents of children who were due for examinations actually and willingly searched for opportunities for their children to attend extra-lessons. If they failed to get this opportunity from schools, they would look for it elsewhere.

The study revealed that, whilst the picture painted and availed to society suggested that, it was schools in general and teachers in particular who needed holiday lessons, reality on the ground had it that, parents themselves and their children typically pressed for extra-lessons. The current study also revealed that, even very high ranking members of society, including those from the civil service approached teachers even after the ban of holiday lessons to persuade them to conduct extra lessons for their children even at home This shows that regardless of the confusion surrounding these lessons, every rational parent still felt that extra-lessons may contribute in improving the chances of children passing their final examinations. This shows that schools organised extra-lessons in response to the need of society. For this reason, banning of extra-lessons or disturb them in any way would not be to the best interest of society and that of the child. If anything, this amounted to using social policy to hurt the very people that it sought to protect.

14.3. Why Children Continued to Attend Extra-Lessons?

It can be concluded from the findings of the current study that, for most parents, the best form of inheritance that they can leave for their children was the gift of education. For this reason, parents were prepared to do all what was legally permissible to ensure that their children pass examination. This explains why in Masvingo urban, parents who could afford continued to send their children for paid for holiday lessons regardless of the financial and opportunity costs involved. Parents had come to realize that it was only a good school leaving certificate that would make their children enjoy realistic chances of getting formal employment in a country which is characterized by high levels of unemployment. Whilst Ministry adopted a paternalistic posture towards parents with children in schools, the current study demonstrated that parents in Zimbabwe felt a very strong drive to educate their children. As education in Zimbabwe was not entirely free, every upright and able parent was more than prepared to educate h/her child unaided as much as possible and hence people continued to send their children to attend paid for holiday lessons regardless of the financial and opportunity costs entailed . It can be said here that, parents continued to make their children attend extra-lessons regardless of the financial and opportunity costs entailed because they realized the utilitarian value and in particular, the extent to which education assisted their children to secure formal employment in a country characterized by massive unemployment. Some parents also felt that their children were safer in the hands of teachers than be left to play on street corners. In the absence of recreational facilities to occupy them, children would be exposed to abuse and many other forms of misbehavior.

14.4. The claim that teachers were no longer teaching effectively during normal lessons to force children to attend extra-lessons was not true. If at all teachers were not teaching effectively, it was for some other reasons rather than extra-lessons. The reason why teachers had to teach extra lessons had to do with responding to the needs of society.

15. RECOMMENDATIONS

In the light of the findings as given above, the following recommendations are made to avoid a situation in which social policies may be used to hurt the very people that they are meant to protect.

15.1. Recommendations for Policy

It is recommended that for policies that directly affect the life of people, Ministry should consult widely and carry out researches that establish reality on the ground. Policies based on social media, newspaper articles, and personal interests but going against the needs of the people would be akin to constructing fences so that they are destroyed.

As for extra lessons, they have a tendency to disappear from the classrooms where they are properly regulated and controlled into people’s homes where children especially the girl child would be exposed to abuse. The Ministry should also protect the image of teachers rather than openly attacking them in public, a situation which negatively affects their standing as societal role models.

Ministry may need to take a leaf from the Ministry of Home Affairs which has worked tirelessly to protect the social fabric of officers in the Ministry even when chips were down. Whilst social media can influence agenda setting for policy formulation, policies should not typically be informed by social media.

15.2. Recommendations for Practice

It is recommended that, Ministry continues to allow schools to organise extra-lessons in the best interest of the child. Schools should make parents pay token amounts to meet the travelling and subsistence expenses of teachers who should be motivated to assist the needy children. If needs be, supervision of especially holiday lessons programmes may be increased.

Ministry should continue to regulate on the fees charged to ensure that schools charge realistic figures meant only to recover costs. The current confusion in which at one stage the lessons are banned and at the other, they are reintroduced with teachers not getting anything, and later they are allowed to charge again does not work in the best interest of the child. The government may also do society a favour by ensuring that teachers are paid well so that they can on their own travel to school to offer unpaid for extra-lessons

15.3. Recommendation for Further Studies

The present research was a case study of the situation in Masvingo urban, a “keyhole” into an understanding of the issues at stake in the topic at a national level. It is recommended that, a more exhaustive understanding of the issues at stake in can be obtained if a wide geographical area is covered by a similar study.

It would therefore be important to carry out a more comprehensive national study involving more respondents and a wider geographical coverage so as to establish all-inclusive results with a more national outlook from which policies on extra-lessons can be informed and therefore improve service delivery and customer satisfaction by schools.

Funding: This study received no specific financial support.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Contributors/Acknowledgement: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study.

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