Zimbabwean
By Staff Reporter
25 July 2010
HARARE – The government is in a bid to restore back the dignity of the teaching profession.
The Minister of Education Sports and Culture David Coltart said: “My first priority is to ensure that teachers are paid sufficiently so as to restore their integrity. The good thing is that we have an incredible dedicated teaching staff which, is an essential ingredient in improving the education sector.â€
Coltart said over 15 000 thousand teachers who left the profession due to the economic meltdown had returned to their postings countrywide in response to the amnesty that the Ministry of Education granted them in 2009.
Thousands of teachers fled the country due to political intimidation and low salaries.
“Despite the low salaries that teachers are getting over 15 000 have returned since last year blanket amnesty for all teachers to return. This indicates that teachers are being paid sufficiently to get back into the system. But I reiterate that I understand that teachers’ salaries are inadequate and I am continuously arguing in cabinet for equality in the civil service. There are many people in the civil service who are being paid far more than teachers,” said Coltart.
Donors had come to the aid of the staff in the health sector by topping up the salaries of doctors nurses and pharmacists but nothing similar had been done for teachers, who were entrusted with the future of the nation.
“I have been advised by trade unions that soldiers are earning much more than teachers, and that is wrong. I am not demeaning soldiers in any way I respect soldiers, for the role they play in protecting our nation but I believe it’s wrong that teachers should earn less than soldiers. We need to bring teachers’ salaries up.â€
As an incentives to encourage teachers to stay at their schools, most parents hav e to folk out money from their pockets to pay them an extra amount.
“The cost of education in the country has been transferred to parents but because parents themselves are poor that has led to a large drop out at both primary and secondary schools. In some rural areas more than 75 percent of students between the age of six and sixteen have dropped out of school,” said Coltart.
However, the minister said despite the return of the teachers, there was still a shortage of teachers in critical subjects such as Mathematics, Science and English . These were in demand in the neighbouring countries where teachers were still highly esteemed and offered better salaries.