From Classroom Desk To Street Corners: Zimbabwe’s Youngest Face Daily Risk

By Shingirai Vambe

Across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces, a growing and worrying number of young children are increasingly visible in city streets and central business districts, many of them far from the classrooms they should be occupying. The sight is becoming all too familiar, toddlers and primary-school-aged children accompanying their parents on daily vending routes, weaving through traffic, dodging hazards, and exposed to risks that no child should face.

For many families, this is not a choice born of neglect but of necessity. Economic hardships have left parents with few options. Many cannot afford childcare, domestic help, or even trusted relatives to watch over their children while they attend to daily business in the informal sector. For parents who rely on vending and other small-scale street enterprises, taking their children along has become a practical, if dangerous, solution.

The consequences are profound. Children who spend their days on the streets are not only missing school but are also increasingly at risk of accidents, abuse, and malnutrition. Their early development and future prospects are jeopardized, while the streets themselves, once primarily spaces for commerce and commuting, become de facto classrooms and playgrounds for the youngest members of society.

The crisis in Zimbabwe’s education sector has deepened, with two of the country’s most prominent teachers’ unions accusing the government of neglecting its constitutional obligation to provide free and equitable basic education, while millions of children are denied schooling.

Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) president, Obert Masaraure, launched a scathing attack on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, accusing top government officials of “looting education funds” to finance lavish lifestyles and foreign shopping sprees at the expense of the nation’s children.

“The money meant for paying school fees for our children has been diverted by the political elite,” Masaraure told The Post on Sunday.

“It has been taken by Pokelo Nare to go on a shopping spree in Europe. It has been taken by Auxillia and Emmerson Mnangagwa to buy mansions and luxury cars around the world. They are chartering planes with funds that should be taking our children to school.

We now have a crisis where a few individuals choose to enjoy their champagne while millions of our people suffer. Almost 3 million prospective learners are out of school because the Mnangagwa government has failed to respect Section 75 of the Constitution, which clearly mandates the state to fund basic education.”

Masaraure further accused the government of diverting education funds earmarked for the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) programme to bankroll the lavish hosting of the SADC summit in Harare.

“They spent the money meant for our children on whiskey and champagne for visiting heads of state, leaving 1.5 million learners stranded. We have made it clear that the BEAM model no longer works under the new legal reforms. What we now need is a system of education grants distributed on the basis of equity, prioritizing the children of peasants and workers in remote schools over those in elite urban schools.

Education is a constitutional right, not a privilege, and these grants must be implemented urgently if we are to restore dignity to our education system,” added Masaraure.

Experts warn that this growing phenomenon reflects both the deepening economic crisis and the inadequacy of social protection systems in Zimbabwe.

“We are witnessing a generation at risk of losing its educational foundation and basic safety,” says a child welfare advocate. “When families have no other option, children are brought into environments where they are highly vulnerable, simply to ensure the survival of the household.”

The increasing visibility of children in urban business districts also underscores a troubling social trend, poverty is forcing parents to weigh immediate survival against long-term development. In many cases, the decision to bring children into hazardous street environments is a daily gamble, with parents fully aware of the risks but powerless to change their circumstances.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, Takavafira Zhou, echoed Masaraure’s concerns, describing Zimbabwe’s education system as being in a “state of collapse” and warning that students have lost faith in the value of formal education.

“Indeed, we have a crisis in the education system,” Zhou said. “Even if schools open, students are not concentrating on their studies. The majority of them are vending, not because they want to, but because they see no hope for their future.

We have over 95% unemployment, and these children are witnessing engineers, accountants, and lawyers selling sweets and bananas on the streets. Their perception of education has shifted, many now believe artisanal mining or informal trading is a better route to survival.”

Zhou emphasized that without a complete paradigm shift in education policy, Zimbabwe risks losing an entire generation.

“Students no longer see the value of education because industries have collapsed. We need to reindustrialize, create jobs, and shift from an examination-oriented curriculum to one that emphasizes life-saving skills and entrepreneurship.

After independence in 1980, we failed to fully decolonize our education system. We are still producing students who can pass exams but lack practical skills to survive in the real world. Even those with 15 A’s are roaming the streets unemployed. Unless they sell bananas or sweets, they will starve.”

Drawing inspiration from Kenya, Zhou urged Zimbabwe to redesign its education system to suit local needs.

“Kenya has successfully localized its education system. For example, they introduced mobile schools for the Maasai, teaching them cattle management and veterinary skills. Now, the Maasai value education because it directly benefits their lives.

We must adopt a similar approach, education must empower Zimbabwean learners to solve real-life problems, not just pass exams that lead nowhere.”

Both ARTUZ and PTUZ warned that Zimbabwe’s education system is on the brink of total collapse if urgent reforms are not implemented. They called on the government to immediately roll out equitable education grants, invest in schools, pay teachers a living wage, and prioritize skills development over outdated examination systems.

As schools prepare to open for the new term, millions of Zimbabwean children remain locked out of classrooms, while those enrolled face a demotivating environment of poverty, unemployment, and hopelessness.

“Education must inspire,” Zhou concluded. “Right now, our children see education as a path to nowhere. Without radical change, we risk condemning an entire generation to poverty.”

Government and civil society stakeholders have long called for comprehensive interventions to address the root causes of child street labor, including poverty alleviation, social grants, access to affordable childcare, and policies that keep children in school. However, the continuing rise of children on the streets suggests that these measures have yet to achieve meaningful impact.