Zimbabwe schools suddenly empty

—By Pam Squyres

| Sat Jan. 20, 2001 12:00 AM PST

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When the government of Zimbabwe took rural land from white farmers and opened it for settlement by blacks, one million people took the invitation and left the cities en mass for the countryside. The population shift emptied urban schools and the rural infrastructure in the resettled areas is grossly inadequate to accommodate the new arrivals, according to the Johannesberg DAILY MAIL & GUARDIAN.

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Schools are reporting dwindling attendance as kids are pulled out of class to join their families in remote areas, where schools are scarce. The government argues it's all for the best -- the biggest obstacle to education is poverty, and the best way to fight poverty is to redistribute land. Give farmers land, officials say, and the infrastructure will come later.

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