Sunday News
18-24 March 2012
Fact sheet:
- 900 high school maths and science teachers needed in Bulawayo
- City has a mere 135 qualified maths and science teachers
- There is a deficit of 765 teachers
- Critical shortage of maths and science teachers in the Matabeleland region
- Low enrolment at teachers’ colleges
Matabeleland is facing an acute shortage of mathematics and science teachers, a situation which has resulted in the region recording poor results in last year’s public examinations, it has been learnt.
This comes amid revelations that Bulawayo has 135 qualified teachers instead of the required 900, a deficit of 765 teachers.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Senator David Coltart, said the Matabeleland region had an unacceptable ratio of unqualified teachers and this was impacting negatively on the region’s overall performance during final examinations.
The minister could, however, not issue the exact figures of the backlog in the ministry.
“As a ministry we have noted that since the turn of the century there has been an urban drift that has seen most teachers shunning the rural areas, some provinces like the two Matabeleland provinces have been the worst affected, which has seen some schools going without a single science or mathematics teacher.
“When we talk to our sister ministry, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, who train the teachers, they tell us there is a drop in student teacher enrolment so they can’t assist anyhow,†said Senator Coltart.
Senator Coltart said the other reason for the poor pass rate was the gap between rural and urban schools, the children at the rural schools lack resources as compared to their urban counterparts.
“There is also the problem of there being fewer schools in the region. This is not a political statement, but Matabeleland still suffers the effects of the 1980’s, when Government did not build schools here, giving the excuse that there were disturbances in the area,†he said.
Meanwhile, Bulawayo provincial education director Mr Dan Moyo said as a provincial education office they had the disadvantage of having to operate at a deficit in terms of mathematics and science teachers.
“Bulawayo is experiencing a shortage of qualified teachers to take up the mathematics and science departments as we have a deficit of about 765 qualified personel. Currently we have only 135 instead of the needed 900 professionals,†he said.
Hel blamed the poor results on the flight of teachers to neighbouring countries adding that their reluctance to comply with the amnesty which was provided by the Government further crippled the education sector in Matabeleland.
“Most of the teachers left the country to neighbouring countries and that has seen quite a number of schools being left with a few qualified teachers forcing them to recruit many unqualified teachers who need to be trained so as to produce good results but that will take long.
“Most of the teachers that left the country are from the towns that are closer to the borders, towns such as Beit Bridge, Gwanda and Bulawayo, so the pass rate is understandable considering that these schools have the least number of teachers,†he said.
He further revealed that most of the teachers that are in the system are untrained, which he said made it difficult to reach the high pass rate level.
Mr Moyo said they were in the process of training those that were new but that would take long yet the pass rate needs to be improved.
“We are making sure that these temporary teachers were trained but still that will take long yet we need the pass rate to be improved as a faster rate,†he said.
Early this month, the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council released a table of the top 10 schools with the highest pass rate at A-level, and a top 50 chart of the best performing schools at O-level from last November’s examinations.
Of the 10 A-level toppers, Mashonaland East contributed four schools, Manicaland three with the Midlands, Masvingo and Harare contributing one each.
Manicaland and Mashonaland were again dominant in the O-level league, claiming 10 spots each and leaving the other eight provinces in their wake.
Only five schools from the region John Tallach (6th), Marist Brother (14th), St Columbus’ (30th), Mtshabezi (35th), Usher Girls (45th) made it in the list.