Zimonline
By Patricia Mpofu
Wednesday 04 March 2009
HARARE – Learning resumed this week at schools across Zimbabwe as teachers heeded calls by the new unity government to return to work after several months striking for more pay and better working conditions.
Education Minister David Coltart, who met teachers’ unions immediately after he was appointed to his new job last month to persuade them to call off the strike and give the government time to raise funds to pay their members, said only a few schools in remote rural areas were yet to resume teaching, blaming this on poor communication.
“There are some few schools in rural areas that are still to open due to communication problems with head office but this is being addressed,†Coltart said. “It’s a slow process but our officers on the ground are attending to it.â€
Coltart, who openly told union leaders when he met them that the government was broke and that he would need time to approach international agencies for help to pay teachers, praised the unions for agreeing to call off the strike.
He said he would be meeting union leaders on Thursday to review the situation.
The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) and the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PUTZ), the two unions for teachers in the country, said their members had agreed to give the new administration the benefit of doubt by returning to work while the government looked for resources to improve salaries and service conditions.
“Teachers are back countrywide although we still have teachers that are battling to cash their vouchers so that they can raise the money to go back to their work stations,†said Sifiso Ndlovu, the chief executive officer of ZIMTA.
PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe described the situation at schools as “back to normal†but said the union was unhappy that returning teachers were being asked to resubmit CVs, birth certificates and other documents as if they were reapplying for their old jobs.
“Although the situation has returned to normal with the bulk of teachers returning to work, we are disturbed by new demands that teachers should submit CVs, birth certificates and testimonial letters,†said Majongwe.
The PTUZ official said the union would raise the matter with Coltart when they meet this week.
Very little learning took place at public schools in 2008 as teachers spent the better part of the year striking for more pay or sitting at home because they could not afford bus fare to work on their meagre salaries.
The government had to postpone the beginning of the first term of this year by two weeks because public examinations written last year had not been marked after teachers boycotted the exercise.
The first term that should have begun on January 13 was rescheduled to start on January 27 but schools remained closed as teachers refused to report for duty.
A unity government between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara has pledged to get teachers, doctors, nurses and all civil servants back at work as part of a drive to get Zimbabwe functioning again and on the road to recovery.
Last week the government paid every civil servant US$100 living allowance, keeping a promise to reward public workers in hard cash.
However analysts say the Harare administration’s ability to get Zimbabwe functioning again hinges on its ability to raise financial support from rich Western countries that have however said they will not immediately help until they are convinced Mugabe is committed to genuinely share power with Tsvangirai.