Zimbabwe boasts one the highest literacy rates in Africa (90.7 percent)
(The African Economist, 2013). However, girls in Zimbabwe and elsewhere
in Southern Africa continue to face a number of challenges in
accessing education. UNESCO (2016) reports that 55 percent of the 31
million children who are out of school in the sub-Saharan Africa region
are girls although the statistics differ at the country level. Barriers
to education for girls include poverty, child marriage and inequitable
household chores. According to the Global Partnership for Education
(GPE, 2016), lack of separated latrines for girls and boys and the
distances to and from school are two of the top 10 barriers to girls’
education. These challenges are linked to gaps in the infrastructure
available to support education for girls (and boys). Zimbabwe will need
to upscale its infrastructural capacities – especially by building on the
momentum generated through community involvement – if Target 4a
of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which
focuses on improving education facilities and learning environments
(including improved infrastructure, use of Information, Communication
and Technology (ICT), and reduced violence), is to become a reality
(UN, 2016).