Rural teachers to get allowances

Sunday News

By Sunday News Reporter

24-30 March 2013

Teachers in the rural areas are set to receive a rural retention allowance as Government moves to bridge the gap between them and their urban counterparts.

The move comes amid revelations that most rural schools are manned by temporary teachers with the situation is some schools so critical that qualified teachers are outnumbered by unqualified teachers, as teachers are moving en mass to urban areas where incentives are higher than those received by rural teachers.

Responding to questions sent to the ministry by the Sunday News, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart said the Government was doing a lot to reduce and possibly close the income disparities that currently exists between rural and urban teachers.

Although he could not be drawn into stating the figures involved, he said rural allowances were being re-introduced to attract teachers to rural schools so as to arrest the continued movement of teachers from rural to urban schools where they get better incentives.

He confirmed that the concentration of temporary teachers was more in rural areas than in urban schools but added that that was not necessarily so because of recruitment blunders.

The minister said qualified teachers were deployed first to rural schools and only went to urban schools through transfer.

“While disparities between the rural and urban schools seem to be pronounced, the Government of Zimbabwe has done a lot to equate the situation.”

“Rural allowances are being re-introduced to attract teachers to rural schools. Qualified teachers are deployed first to rural schools and only come to urban schools through transfer, EFT textbooks were both supplied to primary and secondary schools in rural and urban areas to try and improve the quality of education being offered.”

“Government provides per capita and higher equalisation grants are paid to rural schools P3 and S than the tuition grants paid to urban schools,” he said.

He added that all rural districts had vehicles for personnel to monitor the teaching and learning processes and improve the quality of education on offer, adding that they ministry together with co-operating partners set aside funds that were to be used to rehabilitate schools in both rural and urban areas.

He said as regards the constitution of schools in resettlement areas, the ministry had made significant strides together with stakeholders and parents.

He confirmed that some children in resettlement areas were learning in dilapidated farm houses that were not very safe and conducive especially during the rainy season as they were exposed to the vagaries of the weather.

“The ministry in collaboration with its partners has a programme to assess the situation at the district level and take action to rehabilitate buildings and protect the learners, teachers and the community at large from the vagaries of the agents of weather,” he added.

He said it was their wish to see a situation where teachers would move from urban schools to rural schools as the conditions would be the same.