Public School Viability under Private Sector Expansion: The case of Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe

This study examines the systemic implications of private school proliferation on the viability of public schools in Zimbabwe, with particular reference to Masvingo Province. Adopting a mixed-methods design, the study analyses enrolment trends, staffing configurations, and resource utilisation patterns across 30 public primary and secondary schools, complemented by provincial enrolment data for 2025–2026. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were examined through thematic analysis. Findings reveal substantial enrolment declines of 25–40% at the school level, alongside a marked provincial decrease, most notably a 16.3% drop in primary enrolment within a single year. These shifts have resulted in teacher surpluses, underutilised infrastructure, and declining institutional efficiency across public schools. The study demonstrates that uncoordinated private sector expansion is reshaping demand patterns and generating systemic imbalances within the education system. Drawing on an integrated framework of education marketisation and systems theory, the paper conceptualises these dynamics as asymmetric marketisation, where competitive pressures produce uneven and destabilising effects on public provision. The study argues for a recalibration of policy frameworks to ensure alignment between school registration, teacher deployment, and resource allocation. It contributes to ongoing debates on education marketisation by providing recent empirical evidence from a Sub-Saharan African context and offers policy-relevant recommendations for sustaining equitable, efficient, and resilient public education systems.

public school viability, private school proliferation, enrolment trends, resource utilisation,