Mugabe gets special award

President Mugabe yesterday received the prestigious Open and Distance Learning Scholar of the Century Award from the

African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements and continent-wide promotion of education.

The accolade - the highest academic honour Ahas ever bestowed - was presented to President Mugabe in Harare where the organisation announced it had also established an international scholarship in the President's honour.

The Robert Mugabe AScholarship will benefit one African student from each member institution yearly. Ais the continent's foremost open and distance learning (ODL) body, representing 39 universities.

Accepting the award, President Mugabe said ODL spread higher education opportunities to previously-disadvantaged communities.

"Africa suffers from inequitable distribution of socio-political and economic services. Invariably, the urban areas across the continent boast of all the good schools, colleges and universities.

"This is the reason why at Independence in 1980 my Government worked to immediately change that imbalance, as we were determined to provide education to the majority of our people.

"In the spirit of developing and educating all our people, we found ODL, through ZOU, to be the fastest mode of university learning delivery that can reach every corner of our country, while at the same time we would be expending minimum resources to achieve the same goals as other traditional models of learning."

President Mugabe attained six degrees through distance learning before independence, two of which are in Law. He read for these while in detention for opposing white minority settler rule.

Apart from Law, he has degrees in Administration, Education, Economics and Arts.

President Mugabe chronicled the difficulties he faced during his studies while working as a teacher and later leading the liberation struggle.

"In future, my Government will be investing much more in ODL. It is a learning model that is less costly, but one that reaches all people who need to learn, regardless of where they are. ODL, a strong form of learning delivery for the future of Africa, cultivates a self-motivated, self-managing, and self directed student.

"ODL products can be entrusted with responsibility, especially since they generally are goal-driven, and they find their way, even through a brick wall. Most of Africa needs such people, if we are to quickly convert the continent from being 'developing' to 'developed'."

ACDE secretary-general Professor James Tuitoek said: "The decision to present President Mugabe with the award was unanimous and Zimbabwe did not need to lobby at all. We all accept that Mugabe is a distinguished scholar who is in a class of his own.

"On top of the award, the board decided to establish a scholarship in his honour. All institutions in Africa will offer the Robert Mugabe Ascholarship. All member institutions will offer one scholarship to one student per year."