Zimonline
4 September 2009
By Andrew Moyo
HARARE – More Zimbabwean teachers on Wednesday appeared to heed union calls to boycott classes to press the government to increase salaries and improve working conditions.
The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA), the largest of two unions representing the country’s 90 000 teachers called for an indefinite nationwide strike beginning Tuesday when the final school term of the year began.
But the smaller Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ) did not support the strike call, urging teachers to report for duty to give the cash-strapped coalition government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai time to raise resources to improve salaries and working conditions.
Many schools appeared to begin the new team successfully on Tuesday with the majority of teachers reporting for duty.
But the situation had completely changed yesterday with most teachers absent from schools while hundreds of learners were seen returning home after finding no teachers at school.
In Harare’s high-income northern suburbs students could be seen trooping back home as early as 9 am after they found no teachers at school. Scores of schoolchildren from the working class suburb of Highfield said they had not bothered to go to school because their teachers had told them on Wednesday to stay home.
Some schools remained open in other parts of the capital but teachers did not conduct lessons, while in some schools teachers turned up but the rate of attendance by students was low because they had anticipated that teachers would not be at work.
ZimOnline correspondents in the second largest city of Bulawayo and in the farming towns of Karoi and Chinhoyi, north of Harare, reported similarly chaotic situations at schools.
ZIMTA chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu told ZimOnline on Thursday that the strike had been successful, as most teachers nationwide had downed tools.
“It (the strike) has gone deeper,†Ndlovu said. “It is showing exactly what it should be like if there is a strike, it is now a full blown strike but there are no signals yet from the government. I think they are still digesting things from their side,†the ZIMTA CEO said.
He said figures of the strike would only be available late yesterday evening as they were still trickling in.
PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe described the strike situation as a “mixed bag†with some schools closed but others open as well. “I have been going around schools, it is a mixed bag. There are no schools that are closed but the degree of the turnout (by students) is what is worrying, but the teachers are there,†he said.
Majongwe said teachers’ representatives were scheduled to meet Education Minister David Coltart and Finance Minister Tendai Biti in Harare today to try to resolve the salaries dispute.
Coltart, who has been doing a brilliant job trying to revive Zimbabwe’s education sector, said he was not yet ready to comment as he was still assessing the situation.
Teachers, who are earning on average US$155 per month, are demanding that salaries and allowances be adjusted progressively towards the poverty datum line or breadline – last month quoted at US$502 –by December 2009.
Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government has promised to revive the economy and restore basic services such as health and education that had virtually collapsed after years of recession.
While schools and hospitals have reopened failure by the unity government – which says it requires a total US$10 billion to get Zimbabwe on its feet again – to convince rich Western nations to release grants and soft loans has hampered its ability to sustain the recovery effort.
Public doctors only called off a strike for more pay three weeks ago, responding to a call by Tsvangirai to return to work while the government scrounges around for funds to meet their demands.
Western governments insist they will not provide support until they see evidence Mugabe is committed to genuinely sharing power with Tsvangirai.