Daily News
By Lloyd Mbiba
9 January 2012
Harare - Education minister David Coltart says he cannot stop teachers from joining a looming civil servants’ strike, warning that public schools that open tomorrow face a return to collapse because of government’s failure to pay adequate salaries.
Civil servants, of which close to half are teachers, say they will take “drastic†action if government does not give a firm commitment to raise salaries when the parties meet on Wednesday.
Teachers’ unions have voiced their support for the demand for more pay, leaving government schools to open amid uncertainty.
Reacting to threats of a strike by teachers ahead of schools opening tomorrow, Coltart said he had no power to stop the action since his ministry was not the teachers’ employer.
Teachers, like other civil servants, are employed by the Public Service Commission, which falls under the ministry of Public Service.
The Apex Council, which is the umbrella representation body for civil servants, last week appeared determined to take action if government again refuses to increase salaries.
Tendai Chikowore, leader of the council, said government workers were now fed up with the parent lack of interest in improving their livelihoods. Chikowore is also the president of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association.
The council is agitating for the lowest paid civil servant to receive a salary above the poverty datum line currently pegged at $546.
Coltart, ranked by this paper as one of the best performing ministers for the year 2011, warned the industrial action risked crippling the education sector.
“We have done what we can and everything is on track — exam papers are being marked, dates for opening of schools have been set long ago, secondary school textbooks are being delivered countrywide, but of course all of that will mean little if teachers go on strike. But that is something beyond our control,†he said.
Coltart has managed to turn around the decay in the education sector by implementing effective policies that have seen the sector rising from the ashes.
Zimbabwe’s education sector, once ranked the best in Africa, was in near collapse when Coltart was appointed minister at the formation of the coalition government in February 2009.
A decade-long economic meltdown and political turmoil resulted in most government schools closing down and only opened after the formation of the coalition government.
He introduced teacher’s incentives as a means to generate money to complement the paltry salary which the teachers are getting.
Coltart said he was speaking to the union leaders to try and avert the looming industrial action.
“I am speaking to the trade unions but not as part of the negotiations team because I do not employ them and do not participate in the tripartite negotiations,†he said.
Asked what damage control measure government had put in place if the strike takes place, Coltart said: “It is very difficult to damage control when one does not have teachers – they are critical to a school’s performance.â€