The downfall of Zimbabwe started when President Mugabe decided he liked power too much and crushed any opposition in the 2000 elections. He cares more about himself than the country he is ruling and has changed Zimbabwe in horrible ways. There is almost no government money spent on education and inflation went up to 1oo,000 times normal. Mugabe refused to give up power when Morgan Tsvangirai won the last election, so Tsvangirai became Prime Minister. The power sharing is not proving to be very successful.
With all the government money being spent on other stuff, and no money for schools or teachers’ salaries, the teachers basically do not have the ability to teach. There are no textbooks, and the schools are rundown, with no clean water and broken sewage systems. Parents have to scrape together the money for their children to go to schools that offer them no education.
The teachers have went on strike several times, to get a higher salary, but nothing has come from it. When the teachers are on strike, the students get absolutely no education and quit going to school. The teachers union that is aligned with Mugabe wants to go on strike again, but the teacher union aligned with Tsvangirai has asked that teachers not go on strike because it solves nothing and takes away these children’s one chance at an education. They are holding discussions with the ministers of education and finance, to hopefully get a positive outcome.
