An Examinination of The Learning Conditions in Zimbabwe’s Satellite Schools: A Case of Somabhula Resettlement Area - Midlands Province

Abstract

The Zimbabwean Land Reform Programme of 2000 yielded both positive and negative results. It gave birth to a new phenomenon, the satellite schools, established in former commercial farming areas. During the colonial era, education was not easily accessible to the Zimbabwean  majority. Therefore, when the land was grabbed from the few   representatives of Western hegemony, the government sanctioned the
establishment of satellite schools in areas which had once belonged to the white minority in order to grant the newly resettled populace an opportunity to acquire an education in compliance with the United Nations Charter on human rights. This paper examined the teaching and learning conditions in these schools, paying particular attention to Somabhula resettlement area in the Midlands province. Through the mixed methods approach this paper established that the satellite schools were a noble initiative by the  government, especially considering that education is the key to sustainable development which every government is striving to promote.

Keywords: satellite schools, learning conditions, resettlement area, land reform programme, farm invasions, sustainable development