AFP
May 5, 2009
HARARE — Zimbabwe’s teachers unions on Tuesday called off a threatened strike at state schools after the government agreed to scrap fees for children of teachers.
“We are going back to work but that does not mean teachers are happy,” Tendai Chikowore, president of the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association, told AFP.
“The government has tried to meet one of our demands. We appreciate the efforts being made to address our concerns and we decided to reciprocate by going back to work.”
The union last week threatened to strike when schools opened Tuesday following a long holiday. They are demanding an increase from their 100 US dollar salaries, which they say is too little to meet basic needs and pay school fees for their children.
On Monday, Education Minister David Coltart announced a school fees exception for teachers’ families and slashed fees for all students at government schools.
The Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe also said its members were going back to work but urged the country’s power-sharing government to spruce up its image in order to gain the confidence of donors, whose support is needed to revive the education system.
“We are going back to work although we did not have all our demands met,” PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe told AFP.
“The government is broke so there is not much that can be done to address our grievances. Donors have made it clear that they will only come in if the government addresses such issues as the violation of the rule of law.
“We should push for the government to address all the outstanding issues.”
Schoolteachers returned to work in February following the creation of a unity government, after striking since early last year to demand payment in foreign currency to cope with galloping inflation.
The government this year abandoned the local currency, and the unity government offered the 100 US dollar payments as an interim step toward improving salaries.
Coltart, who took office when the Movement for Democratic Change joined the government, had agreed to review their demands while seeking international aid.
The unity government is seeking 8.5 billion dollars over three years to revive the economy and restore public services, including schools and hospitals.
Major donors have been reluctant to give new aid until the government makes more tangible reforms to break from President Robert Mugabe’s past policies, which are blamed for wrecking the economy and trampling on human rights.