The Herald
9 September 2009
Harare — The Teachers Union of Zimbabwe and Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe yesterday accused their rival Zimbabwe Teachers Association of taking teachers for a ride to gain political mileage.
The two bodies boycotted a meeting with Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart organised by Zimta, saying their rival had abandoned teachers’ grievances for politics.
Minister Coltart had to juggle between a conference room where representatives of PTUZ and TUZ sat and his office where Zimta representatives were waiting for him.
This came as teachers at schools in high and medium density suburbs boycotted lessons, heeding a Zimta call to go on strike. Minister Coltart had called on the three teachers unions to discuss salary grievances and working conditions.
Zimta called for a national strike last week after it failed to agree with the ministry on salary adjustments. In an interview yesterday, Minister Coltart said he would engage the other two unions today and take the issue to Cabinet.
“I am leaving no stone unturned because the children are the ones who are suffering, particularly now when they are approaching national examinations due next month.
“We had a productive meeting and I have undertaken to raise the issues in Cabinet and will be reporting to the unions of the resolutions. I have also explained the difficulties that the Government is facing. “I intend to meet them (PUTZ and TUZ) tomorrow (today) and discuss the issue that we discussed with Zimta,” he said.
He promised to deal with the unions fairly and transparently and hoped the unions would also reach a consensus among themselves for the good of the children.
Zimta secretary general Richard Gundane said the association had met with the ministry and highlighted their concerns.
“Issues raised include improvement of the basic salary and the introduction of allowances, teachers who want to come back through the window of amnesty and the incentives. We feel the burden of incentives should be removed from parents. The issues are supposed to be discussed in further meetings,” he said.
A survey by The Herald showed teachers did not attend lessons at most Government schools in Kuwadzana, Glen Norah, Glen View, Highfield , Mbare and in a number of schools in Chitungwiza.
Minister Coltart said the situation was the same at schools in Bulawayo where he said teachers were reporting for duty but not conducting lessons. Some teachers took the opportunity to conduct private and extra lessons for a fee.
However, at Glen View 1 High School, teachers were conducting lessons while at Glen View 1 Primary School half of the about 40 teachers were working while the others did not report for duty. Pupils said some teachers were asking for between US$1 and US$3 to conduct extra lessons a week.
Some parents have vowed not to pay, saying teachers were exploiting the situation to fleece them of their money.