The broken ladder: How Zimbabwe’s girls are being left behind in the classroom

By Rumbidzayi Mugwira and Mercy Ngwebvu

Tanyaradzwa, 21, pans for gold after school and on weekends to support her family.

She dreams of becoming a social worker, a goal she edges closer to through her role as a peer educator, helping other girls stay in school.

“I believe it’s my responsibility to bring change to my community,” she says.

Her story is one of resilience, but it is also a common one in Zimbabwe, where the high aspirations of millions of girls are systematically thwarted by a cascade of financial, social, and systemic barriers.

Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution and its 2025 National Gender Policy frame education as a basic human right, championing gender parity on paper. The government has even embraced international programs like the Gender-Responsive Education Sector Planning initiative.

Yet, a chasm separates policy from reality. While the nation celebrates near-equal primary school completion rates for boys and girls, this parity shatters at the secondary level. In 2021, 8,000 more girls than boys dropped out of secondary school, doubling the disparity from just two years prior. This exodus of young women from education has profound consequences, not only for their own futures but for the nation’s development.

A recent survey sponsored by the world Bank titled, “A Girl Can Dream,” lays bare the stark contrast between what girls hope for and what they achieve. The study found that a staggering 80% of Zimbabwean girls aspire to attain higher education, with 47% desiring a university degree. However, only a mere 4% eventually acquire a tertiary education. This dramatic shortfall is a clear indicator of a system failing its girls. The study describes “odds that include limited reproductive rights, traditional norms, domestic roles, acceptance of male authority, and financial constraints invariably stacked against too many girls from an early age.”

The journey through education for a Zimbabwean girl is akin to navigating an obstacle course where the hurdles are both economic and deeply cultural.

Child rights activist, Theresa Takafuma emphasised the need for families to keep girls in school, saying this creates a win-win situation for both their family and the nation at large.

“When a girl is kept in school; she is more likely to empower herself and her household, breaking the poverty cycle in most Zimbabwean families. Educated women drive various sectors of the economy and when a girl learns, the whole country grows hence the need for collaborative efforts to champion girls’ education,” she said.

Financial constraints are the most frequently cited barrier. When family resources are limited, the choice of which child to educate often falls along gender lines. According to one survey, eight in ten respondents believed that boys’ education should be prioritised over girls’ when resources are scarce. Girls are often expected to help with domestic chores or, like Tanyaradzwa, engage in informal work to support the household.

Takafuma added that no child should take precedence over another when it comes to education.

“Equality and equity matter in education because all children have the same capabilities. Girl children are more vulnerable to sexual abuse, teen pregnancies and early child marriages therefore should be protected at all costs, mainly trough families investing more in their education,” she said.

About half of the girls and young women surveyed agreed that a woman’s primary responsibility is household care and that men should be the sole financial providers.

These norms contribute to one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the region, with 111 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19. A 2025 report from a UN Working Group noted that teenage pregnancy remains high at 23%, and despite a government policy allowing young mothers to return to school, many face too much stigma to take up the offer.

The school environment itself can be hostile. About one in five citizens reports that schoolgirls often or always face discrimination, harassment, and requests for sexual favours from their teachers. Furthermore, a lack of proper sanitation facilities and the inability to afford sanitary pads force many girls to miss school regularly or drop out altogether.

In response, the government and its partners have launched initiatives. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, with organizations like CAMFED, is training young women as peer educators. The core pedagogical strategy promoted is Gender-Responsive Pedagogy (GRP), designed to create inclusive and equitable learning environments.

However, its implementation is fraught with difficulty. A major hurdle is the high teacher-pupil ratio, which can reach 1:50 in a class, making individualized, gender-sensitive instruction nearly impossible. Moreover, there is a critical lack of research and understanding of how teachers are actually interpreting and applying GRP strategies in their daily lessons.

The failure to educate girls impoverishes the entire nation. An uneducated girl is more likely to be economically marginalized. Among working-age adults, men are significantly more likely to have a paying job than women (40% vs. 26%). The intergenerational impact is equally stark. Studies show that one additional year in school can increase a woman’s earnings by 10%, and having a literate mother makes a child 50% more likely to live past the age of five.

Despite the daunting challenges, there are glimmers of hope in the determined efforts of girls and advocates. For activists like Vimbai R. Nyika of the Women’s Action Group, education itself is a form of resistance. “We can use education to counter backlash,” she argues.

The path forward requires more than just policy. It demands a societal reckoning. As the UN Working Group concluded, “Zimbabwe must actively confront and eradicate patriarchal attitudes that undervalue girls, creating a society which nurtures their potential as future leaders, innovators and changemakers.” For Zimbabwe to thrive, the ladder of education must be repaired so that every Tanyaradzwa can climb from the riverbeds of informal work to the heights of her own ambition.