Sunday Mail
22 February 2009
By Itai Mazire and Phyllis Kachere
GOVERNMENT will this week, through the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, engage UN development agencies and other international donors for funding to end the educational crisis in the country.
In a telephone interview with The Sunday Mail from Bulawayo, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, appealed to teachers through their unions to return to work tomorrow (Monday) while Government engages donors for salary funding.
“I will be meeting Unicef and UNDP (UN Development Programme) and other donors’ representatives to see how they can assist with funding for teachers’ salaries on Monday. We appeal to all the teachers, through their unions, to return to work for the benefit of our children and they allow us time to mobilise funds so that we can meet with their demands.
“The ministry will be meeting with representatives from Unicef and UNDP on Monday so that we raise funds for teachers and examination markers. We will also be meeting with leaders from the teachers’ union on Monday so that they can give us feedback from consultations they made with teachers and their structures,” said Sen Coltart.
He said there were three possible sources for funding for teachers’ salaries that included the fiscus, donors and parents.
“The Treasury is dry and the other options are donors and parents. But we know the majority of parents cannot afford high fees in foreign currency and that has to be taken into consideration.
“We are expecting to pay teachers a viable wage in line with regional trends, but that again depends on the availability of funds,” he said.
He said some unscrupulous teachers were capitalising on the desperation of parents by demanding unreasonable allowances and said that should end immediately.
Some parents have called for the dismissal of teachers who demand allowances from parents. At most former Group A schools, teachers have demanded allowances as high as US$1 000 from parents, a situation which Sen Coltart said was unacceptable as there should be uniformity in teachers’ salaries depending on their qualifications and grading.
Rural teachers had lost out while their urban counterparts had managed to fleece desperate urban parents who were forced to pay as much as US$10 per month to the teachers resulting in most teachers taking home around US$500.
Last week Sen Coltart met leaders from the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) and the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) to iron out teachers’ grievances and pleaded with them to end the strike that has been going on since last year.
The teachers’ unions called on the ministry to let teachers that have been absconding duties since January 2007 to be allowed to return to work without re-applying.
According to the Public Service Commission regulations, any teacher who resigns or simply absconds should wait for two years before re-applying or being re-admitted.
Although Sen Coltart is said to be in agreement with the calls for amnesty, he said his ministry had no jurisdiction over the matter, but would make recommendations to the Ministry of Public Service.
PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe hinted that teachers were likely to return to work to allow the inclusive government to raise funds for teachers’ salaries.
“There is a possibility we can give them the benefit of the doubt. We might concede, but on condition that the Government accepts to admit all teachers that left the profession due to economic hardships and political circumstances without any conditionalities,” said Mr Majongwe.
The union leaders also suggested that there be adjustments on the school calendar since some public schools had not opened for this term, which was scheduled to open on January 27.
The teachers’ unions were upbeat that amnesty to teachers would improve the situation in schools.
Zimta secretary-general Mr Richard Gundani said the amnesty would enable qualified teachers to return to work.
“We agreed that an amnesty should be granted to teachers who were displaced during elections or dismissed for failing to go to work because of economic challenges.
“The amnesty will cover those affected from January 2007 to date,” said Mr Gundani.
“We are encouraging our members to take advantage of this window which has been opened so that they come back,” he said.
Mr Gundani said an agreement was also reached on the slight adjustment of the school calendar.
“We agreed that the school calendar should be revised so that there are slight adjustments to school terms. We are hoping that the new calendar would be out next week.”
Mr Majongwe concurred.
“We agreed we must discuss around issues of normalising the school terms,” he said.
Meanwhile, the unions are calling on their members to accept the US$100 vouchers given by Government as a short-term measure to address challenges faced by teachers while negotiations are under way.
“We have agreed that teachers should take them (vouchers).
“We encourage teachers to go and get the vouchers and make sure they use the money. We appreciate what is being presented by Government, but we have our own concerns,” said Mr Majongwe.