Teachers Demand More From Gvt

Zimbabwe teachers representatives have called upon government to address the incapacitation of teachers which they see as a solution for teachers to continue reporting for duty.

The call came after teachers incapacitation plight is continuing in the country whilst the government is not offering a proper solution to address the situation.

Recently Permanent Secretary of Primary and Secondary Education Tumisani Thabela said teachers who do not have money to report for duty should “borrow” and go back to work, a statement which stipulates clear that government is not ready to offer teachers a favorable remuneration.

Speaking during a world teachers commemorations day which was held in Harare yesterday, teachers representatives expressed their grievances to the government insisting that it should increase teachers salaries for them to cope with the current economic challenges.

Progressive Teachers Union Of Zimbabwe {PTUZ} President, Dr Takavafira Zhou said there was need for government and teachers to dialogue and solve the ongoing incapacitation problem which is currently being faced by teachers.

“What we have known in Zimbabwe is command and control system, threats to teachers that they are not reporting for duty, that they must borrow in order to report for work all l want to state here is that the best we can do here is to engage. We must never evade engagement and with engagement we can find a solution,” he said.

Zhou added that government should also export teachers outside the country and globally to plough back the investment on training them, however he insisted that there should export limited numbers to avoid shortage of teachers in Zimbabwe.

Moreso, Zimbabwe Teachers Association {ZIMTA} President Richard Gundane urged the government to address the incapacitation of teachers urgently to guarantee the safety of the education sector in the country.

“The most important is the human resource aspect, so what is the value of this human resource? where is the ministry statement, that statement is called the employer value statement, where is it and what does it say? It is important for the ministry to be very clear in terms of what value do you attach to every individual teacher in the education sector and how is this coming to show in the money that we get,” said Gundane.

Another teachers representative which was also available at the commemoration which is Teachers Union Of Zimbabwe {TUZ} insisted that the government should pay teachers salaries with half US dollars and the other half in Zimbabwean dollar.

Meanwhile  Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union Of Zimbabwe {ARTUZ} President Obert Masaraure said teachers were going to report for duty once in a week as a solution to neutralize the current salaries.

“It is also important to note that teachers are earning less than 50% of total consumption level this is unacceptable. to You agree with me that before teachers were earning 540USD and of cause the government shows through the austerity measures it slashed our salaries by over one third and now we are earning 21% of the fair wage. We are earning 21% of the salaries we used to earn in 2018.

“What l am trying to say is teachers will work 1 day per week and comrades when you see teachers not reporting for work no they will not be absent they are just reporting for the day which is commensurate with the income which they are earning,” he said.

Responding to all these demands new Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Evelyn Ndlovu said when he was sworn into office by President Mnangagwa he was mandated to address the incapacitation of teachers as well as improving the infrastructure of schools across the country.

The teachers commemoration was celebrated under the theme, ‘Teachers at the heart of education recovery’ and the theme was set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization {UNESCO}.