VOA标准英语2009年-Zimbabwe Education Gets $70-Million Boost

The international donor¹ community has unveiled a $70-million Educational Transition Fund aimed at improving the quality of education for the country's children. Some of the money will also be used to pay school fees for orphans² and other under privileged children.

Zimbabwe used to enjoy the highest literacy rate on the African continent, but the country's economic stagnation³ of the past decade has put an end to that. School buildings and furniture at most public schools are in a state of disrepair and learning materials, especially text books, are in short supply.

Speaking at the launch of the Education Transition Fund at Mutasa Primary School in Harare, Education, Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart said $50 million would go towards addressing the severe shortage of textbooks in schools.

"In many schools the only textbook is the one held by the teacher," said David Coltart. "In most government schools the ratio is no better that 1 to 15. Accordingly the first task of the education transition fund will be to arrange for the printing of literally⁴ millions of textbooks with the objective of delivering the same to our poorest and most needy⁵ schools during the first term of 2010 and thereafter."

The other $20 million would go towards revitalizing the government's Basic Education Assistance Module⁶, which was set up to assist orphans and other under privileged children with school fees. Speaking at the launch of the fund, Minister of Labor⁷ and Social Welfare Paurina Mupariwa said $35 million is needed to support children in need per term.

But the textbook situation is just one of numerous challenges schools face. In the grounds of Mutasa Primary School VOA saw clusters of children sitting in the dirt being taught in the shade of trees.

Teacher Temptation Muringisi is putting her class of 39 through a mathematics lesson.

"We are under the tree because of a shortage of classrooms," said Temptation Muringisi. "We share the classroom with the grade fives so we spend half the day outside, then we go in the classroom and do our written work."

During the rainy season Muringisi said the children have to wait in the corridors for their turn in the classrooms. She added that no lessons are held in the corridors, as that would disturb the children in the classrooms.

The British, Australian, Swedish, New Zealand, Norwegian governments and the European Union are some of the partners who contributed to the Education Transition Fund, which will be administered by the United Nations' children's agency, UNICEF.

1 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

2 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

3 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

6 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。