The Standard
By CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
8 March 2009
SOME schools, mainly in rural areas, remain closed after returning teachers were chased away by state security agents and war veterans who accused them of supporting the Movement for Democratic Change.
Most of the teachers, who fled their schools in the run–up to the bloody June 27 presidential election run-off in which over 150 MDC activists were murdered, were reportedly shocked when they were received by the same hostile forces on their return.
The unity government made up of the two MDC formations and Zanu PF formed last month has prioritised reopening of schools closed since last year because of the violence and a prolonged strike.
The move to pay teachers in foreign currency had renewed hopes that normalcy would return to the education sector, with reports teachers who had deserted the profession almost two years ago were eager to return.
But the country’s two major teacher unions said the harassment of teachers, especially in Mashonaland West, Central and East provinces was threatening the return of teachers.
The Progressive Teachers’ Union (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) raised the issue with the new Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart last week.
“We raised the issue with the minister (Wednesday) and he said he was immediately sending a fact-finding mission into the three provinces,†said PTUZ national treasurer Ladistous Zunde.
Sifiso Ndlovu, the acting Zimta chief executive officer said indications were that some civil servants were involved in the harassment of teachers.
“In one of the cases, a teacher in Mashonaland Central was threatened with death by a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO),†Ndlovu said.
“We recommended to him that he seeks intervention from the provincial director and we are still waiting to hear the outcome.â€
The most affected areas were provinces where President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF commands majority support and which were the epicentre of the June 27 electoral violence.
Coltart confirmed receiving reports of the harassment and urged the affected teachers to report to their district offices for assistance.
“We are concerned that those teachers had to flee for their lives,†he said. “We urge people to co-exist for the benefit of the country.â€
Some teachers were also failing to redeem the US$100 vouchers they were given by government as salaries for last month as banks do not have enough foreign currency.
Others even failed to get the vouchers because their headmasters had left the country seeking greener pastures abroad.
The remaining teachers had no mandate to collect pay-sheets and vouchers from the Ministry of Education’s regional offices.
Both government and teachers’ organisations confirmed last week that hundreds of teachers were yet to receive their salaries almost two weeks after they were released.
PTUZ national co-ordinator Oswald Madziwa said the disbursement of vouchers was “chaotic†with some of them sent to the wrong province.
Coltart said the Ministry of Finance, which had been alerted, would address the issue of vouchers.
Zunde said in addition, some headmasters were turning back teachers who had either absconded or resigned despite a government directive to take them back without questions being asked.
He said the problem had arisen because the government had not properly communicated its decision to grant amnesty to the affected teachers.
Coltart said: “They are covered by the general amnesty granted by government…they qualify for amnesty.â€
The general amnesty covers teachers who resigned or absconded between January 2007 and this year.
Zimbabwe’s schools require more than 200 000 teachers to function normally but most of them have deserted the profession due to poor pay and deteriorating working conditions.
Analysts say a year-long strike by teachers over salaries and working conditions had accelerated the collapse of the education system.
The teachers were demanding salaries in foreign currency of up to US$2 300.
Government recently presented a US$458 million budget to the donor community for the education sector, which Coltart said would cover six months.
The quality of education in the country has suffered a dramatic decline over the past nine years as teachers fled the effects of economic collapse by trekking to neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, where working conditions and remuneration are more attractive.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Zimbabwe was counted among African countries with the highest literacy rate estimated at over 80% but educationists say the percentage has since plummeted due to poor education policies.