Ministry’s killer directive

Sunday Mail
By Lovemore Chikova
11th October 2009

THERE is a joke doing the rounds in Harare these days that a person who buys more beer than others in a beerhall or at a bottle store should be a teacher or a headmaster.

The joke emanates from the fact that teachers have suddenly become the most affluent among their peers in the civil service.

This followed a directive from the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, that teachers be paid extra allowances from school levies.
But the system, which allowed the teachers to take home only 10 percent from the levies as incentives, has now gone out of control and there are allegations that it is being abused by both teachers and school heads.

Some teachers are not only taking more than the allocated 10 percent of the levies, but they are also demanding that the parents pay extra allowances for them to teach.

Unfortunately, the once noble profession is fast losing direction amid countless reports that teachers are holding parents to ransom by demanding the extra benefits.
Only last week, a local newspaper reported that teachers at some schools in Harare were demanding US$1 000 from each pupil in an examination class for them to conduct lessons.

The same daily newspaper reported that other teachers at some schools in Chitungwiza were demanding US$300 a day for what they termed “extra lessons”.
Harare regional education director Mr Tommax Dobha confirmed that his office had received reports of such demands being made by teachers.

“We have sent our officers to investigate those allegations,” he was quoted by the daily paper as saying. “However, we need to establish the facts first before we take the next step.”

The demands have since gone to levels where the teachers are asking for foodstuffs and other basic necessities from the parents. The newspaper also exposed some teachers in Masvingo who were said to be demanding buckets of maize and sweet potatoes from students before they could start lessons.

The situation was said to be worse in the Mapanzure communal lands where parents with children at Muchenurwa and Shumbayaonda primary schools alleged that the teachers were demanding payment in kind.

In Chivi South, the same newspaper reported that some teachers had since moved their demands to soap, cooking oil, sugar and maize meal.
One parent from Mapanzure, Mr John Hakurabwi, was quoted as saying: “They are ripping us off these teachers. They now demand maize and sweet potatoes from parents, yet they are being paid by the Government.”

But it all started when Senator Coltart produced a circular in May this year directing that teachers be paid 10 percent of the levies as incentives.

The schools followed the directive, but most of them ended up directing all the money paid in levies to pay the teachers’ allowances.

Yet part of the levies is supposed to go towards repairs and maintenance, sports and culture, administration and learning materials.

Already there have been some running battles between teachers and school development associations (SDAs) over the use of the levies.

The SDAs argue that the teachers should at least spare some money for development purposes, while the teachers insist that the levies have become part of their payment. School children who fail to pay the levies are being expelled despite the circular from the ministry indicating that no child should be expelled for failing to pay levies.

Some headmasters and teachers have become ruthless in dealing with pupils who fail to pay up.

A weekly newspaper in Manicaland last week reported that some school authorities had gone to the extent of whipping the pupils who failed to pay the money on time.
Parents are not obviously happy with the status quo and want it changed.

“Their demands are too much and at this rate, they will end up asking us to buy them furniture and other household goods in order for them to teach our children,” said one parent from Warren Park, who refused to be named for fear that his children at Warren Park 1 Primary School would be victimised.

“They are holding us to ransom and I am no longer sure about the future of my children and our education system.”

The situation has reached crisis levels to such an extent that teachers are actually pretending to be on strike and asking children who can afford to pay them directly to come for extra lessons.

A Bulawayo-based daily newspaper reported last month that pupils at Senzangakhona Primary School in Emganwini had alleged that the teachers were demanding at least R20 from each one of them for them to conduct lessons.

Observers say the system has caused anarchy at most schools and it demands bold action from the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to stop the rot.
The national secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association, Mr Richard Gundane, said they were aware that some of their members were abusing parents by making extortionate demands.

“Yes, we know that there are some teachers who are coercing students to pay extra money for lessons,” he said. “We condemn the practice because it is outside the set policy.”

Mr Gundane said the practice was tantamount to fleecing parents and was made worse by the fact that the teachers were demanding “unreasonable” amounts.
He said it was evident that the practice of offering incentives to the teachers had created a chaotic situation in the education sector, but the solution was to award the teachers salaries that are enough to cater for their needs.

Mr Gundane said the situation was made worse by the fact that there were some parents who voluntarily offered the teachers extra incentives for them to pay more attention to their children.

The Minister of Public Service, Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, said the system of paying incentives would be abolished because teachers had gone out of control.
He said it had become obvious that some teachers were “milking parents of their meagre earnings” by demanding extra money.

Prof Mukonoweshuro said the system of incentives was put in place as a way of cushioning teachers when they were not being paid salaries by the Government.
“Teachers are employees of the Public Service and not parents, hence the need for the employers to see to it that they are paid, lest we end up not being able to control them,” said Prof Mukonoweshuro.

“The Government cannot afford to sit back and relax while teachers abuse the facility of incentives and exploit the parents. We do not condone the abuse as it does not promote a win-win situation for both the teachers and the parents.”

But his remarks might actually have come a bit late because it has become obvious in recent weeks that the Government is slowly losing grip on the teachers.
The reality on the ground seems to suggest that the habit of coaxing parents to cough out extra incentives is now deeply entrenched among teachers.