Transforming Rural Secondary Schools in Developing Countries: Towards Educational Equity in Zimbabwe

Because of various challenges that rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe face, such as isolation, recruiting and retention of personnel and sub-standard accommodation for teachers, among others, leaders at all levels of the education system are often required to design appropriate transformational strategies (Ncube,2014). This case study, whose purpose was to solicit views on how to transform rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe, sought the insights of 5 chairpersons of School Development Committees (SDCs) of 5 criterion sampled rural secondary schools. The study was guided by two related questions, viz: What are the main obstacles to the achievement of educational equity in Zimbabwe’s rural secondary schools? and How could Zimbabwe’s rural secondary schools be transformed to achieve educational equity? The study employed a questaview as a qualitative research technique to generate data. The participants identified five broad barriers to the achievement of educational equity in Zimbabwe’s rural secondary schools, namely: poor conditions; ineffective school leadership; limited community and parental participation; unmet needs of students; and lack of quality teachers. Consequently, the participants proffered the following transformational strategies: making use of local resources; creating a vision for the school; soliciting community and parental support; providing quality teachers; employing technology; and providing parental and community development opportunities. The participants also strongly felt that supporting teachers and other essential staff who choose to work in rural settings is vital in the quest to transform rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe. The study has highlighted citebased strategies for transforming rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe. This shift in emphasis is significant to the extent that it attempts to persuade developing countries, including Zimbabwe, to scale up the use of local resources to resolve local challenges experienced by rural secondary schools. __________________________________________________________________________________________