Why Zimbabwe’s schools have taken to selling chickens
A collapsing education system means head teachers must get creative
The job of a head teacher involves hiring teachers, disciplining pupils and placating parents. It does not normally include selling chickens. But that was one of several side-hustles run by Evermore Chakwizira, who until last year was the head of Chinyika High School in Goromonzi, 40km (25 miles) east of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. Since 2019 his school has sold hundreds of chicks a week at the local market. During the covid-19 pandemic, when children were at home, fluffy poults took up residence in the classrooms.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Cluck-cluck economics”
Middle East & Africa January 21st 2023
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- Binyamin Netanyahu rushes to take on Israel’s Supreme Court
- Iran and its Arab neighbours are divided over a name
- How young Sudanese are still fighting for democracy
- South Africa’s disintegrating freight railway is crippling firms
- Why Zimbabwe’s schools have taken to selling chickens
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