Following Zimbabwe's Independence in 1980, the Government immediately set about rectifying the inherited inequities in the education system. Free access was given to primary education, and enrolment rose from 820,000 to 2.3 million a decade later. Advances at secondary level were even more dramatic: enrolment increased more than tenfold, to over 700,000 in 1990.

There were many logistical problems to be overcome in order to cater for this huge increase in the number of students: buildings, trained teachers, equipment, books and, of course, the financing of this expansion. I shall only focus on books since it is these which we are discussing today.