Zimbabwe education slides back into chaos

16 September 2009
By Nqobizitha Khumalo
Zimonline

BULAWAYO – Zimbabwe’s education system that had shown signs of recovery is quickly sliding back to chaos because of a teachers’ strike that has crippled learning at public schools that reopened only six months ago after a new power-sharing government came into office.

The most crucial and final term of the year began more than two weeks ago but there has been very little or no learning taking place at public schools after the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), the largest of two unions representing teachers in the country, called a nationwide job boycott by teachers to press the coalition government to hike salaries.

The strike that began slowly when the new term began on September 2 appeared to gather pace this week with, for example, nearly 90 percent of public schools visited by ZimOnline reporters in Bulawayo and surrounding areas on Tuesday found with only a few senior teachers present or no one at all to teach or supervise children.

Many schoolchildren could be seen loitering at school grounds or nearby shopping centres in scenes reminiscent of 2008 when learners were left on their own as teachers went on strike or simply stayed at home because they could not afford bus fare to work on their meagre salaries.

Education Minister David Coltart, who has held several fruitless meetings with union leaders since the new term began, told ZimOnline that there was little he could do to get teachers back to classrooms, surrendering the task to the Ministry of Public Service that employs all government workers.

“The issue of the strike is not with me anymore,” said Coltart, who also pointed out that the work boycott by teachers had hit learning at most schools across the country.

ZIMTA president Tendai Chikowore said: “The strike is still on . . . the majority of our members are not reporting for duty in all provinces across the country.”

Chikowore, whose ZIMTA has about 40 000 members out of about 90 000 teachers at schools, said the union would meet next Friday to review the strike.

Officials from the smaller Progressive Teacher’s Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) were not immediately available for comment on the matter. The 20 000-member PTUZ has opposed the strike action although it is unclear whether the union’s members are actually reporting for work as directed by their leaders.

Private schools that pay teachers more than public schools are running normally across the country.
Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government between Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe has promised to revive the economy and restore basic services such as health and education that had virtually collapsed after years of recession.

But the failure by the administration– which says it requires a total US$10 billion to get Zimbabwe back on its feet again – to convince rich Western nations to release grants and soft loans has hampered its ability to sustain the recovery effort.

The administration that since its February formation had been paying all its workers a flat US$100-allowance per month last July hiked payments to between $155 and $200 per month depending on grade. Teachers’ salaries were raised to US$150, a sum they say should be increased to about $500 per month.

Patrick Moyo a teacher at a Bulawayo secondary school described his government salary as a “waste of time”.

Moyo said he was at school to teach students preparing for their final public examinations at the end of the year but he was asking each child to pay him 20 rands (about US$2.00) to attend lessons.

He said: “If government will not pay us then the students will have to pay for the lessons because we cannot toil for the whole month for just US$150, it is waste of time.”