via Teachers to lose 3 months’ wages in new ZANU PF plans | SW Radio Africa by Nomalanga Moyo on Thursday, May 22, 2014
Under new ZANU PF plans teachers will not receive any wages for the school holiday months when they are not teaching.
Traditionally schools in Zimbabwe close in April, August and December to give learners a break. If the government goes ahead with its plan, teachers will lose around $1,500 per year.
The proposals are part of several others which include installing cameras in classrooms as well as forcing schools to conduct sporting activities at weekends.
Any teacher without Maths, Science or English at ‘O’ Level will lose their job unless they write and pass these subjects within a set time frame.
Education Minister Lazarus Dokora is spearheading these proposals as part of a review that he says is aimed at improving standards in the sector.
Since taking over last year Dokora has banned teachers from complementing their low wages by offering holiday lessons. He has also stopped the payment of incentives, which was a way of persuading teachers to remain in the profession.
Teachers say the minister is out to destroy education, once the country’s pride and joy, and have demanded a meeting with President Robert.
Alarmed teachers say they will be meeting soon to discuss the planned changes.
Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, told this station that the proposals were “overzealous” and “madness”.
Majongwe said the 14,000 teachers who are part of his union will not “sit back” while the minister goes ahead with his changes.
“It is clear that this government does not respect teachers. Teachers are constantly getting a raw deal just because ZANU PF suspects we do not support it.
“We are just waiting for Mugabe to return from Singapore and if our concerns are not addressed to our satisfaction, we will go on strike,” Majongwe said.
The ZANU PF government has been struggling to pay the country’s 230,000 civil servants since it assumed total control through the widely discredited 2013 polls.
Teachers get an average salary of $500 a month. An average family in the country requires $560 every month for basic commodities.
According to Jesina Muvekwa, a US-based Zimbabwean student and a campaigner for children’s rights to education, the government should commit more resources to education if the standards are to improve.
She also called on the government to respect teachers and acknowledge the important work they do by treating them with respect.
Speaking on the Big Picture Programme, Muvekwa said: “The government should work with teachers as partners and not as just public servants because these are the people who drive the education sector.
“This also includes improving the quality of training that the teachers get to ensure that it reflects the needs of the country as well as global trends,” she said.
Another education advocate, Isaac Jonas, said improving the security of learners and their teachers should be part of Education Minister Dokora’s proposed changes.
At the moment many children are missing out on even basic education, which by right they should have access to, because the government is failing to provide the resources.
COMMENTS
CRAZY! DRUNK!
ZANU will destroy everything the whites left. Industries,infrastructure,health and now Education.The ZANU Baboons sh.t.
It is the same as Britain when the Romans left. The country fell apart and the ensuing Dark Ages lasted for centuries.
Cameras…what for? Who is going to be trawling through the thoudands of cameras? and what exactly will they be looking for? Will these cameras also be installed at Zvamakudo and Zvamatobwe schools in the back of the beyond where there are no roads, no electricity? no books? Given cameras and books or electricity which do you think any sane person would choose for a school?
If teachers are going to lose 3months pay then teachers certainly shouldnt work weekends or any time after 5pm. Weekends are their rest days.And it goes without saying teachers should not use their own time for marking or scheming and planning lessons.
There are so many other ways of judging whether teachers are meeting targets. Did we have cameras in schools back then when exellent results where making waves across the continent?You got your priorities so warped it boggles the mind!
I cant help but think most ministers are mecenaries working for a foreign country and hell bent on destroying Zimbabwe.
Who are these people???
Cameras…what a joke where are they going to get money for that?
where are the going to get the electricity as well, or does this mean there will be an end to load shedding???
Some young ZANU hotshot with a coke-can MBA will supply zhingzongs and buy a big car. The cameras will either break down after a week or be sabotaged by the teachers, Dokora will drink himself into Ingutsheni where he belongs and someone even less intelligent will be appointed. ZANU 1, The People 0. Same cycle, look at what Chigwedere did to education.
@ Justice-can answer your question- put out their long sticky thieving hands and beg around the world!
When will we learn? Us Zimbo’s I wonder? Zvakwana! Zvakwana! And so the useless leaders must also take a salary cut. How about 0%. What are they doing to add to this nation? Nothing but destruction. Take! Take! take! Teachers stand up and be counted and if any of you voted ZPF think!
You wonder if these Zanu idiots know that they should serve the people. They are only serving their interest, they know they have just increased the salaries by a few cents and now they want that money back. Going to meet Mugabe wont help Majongwe that is the problem is coming from.
Gen. Chiwenga who was promoted after failing the officers’ course must rewrite the officers’ course
OMG…. what next? time to get out on the streets and stop paying taxes!!!What has he planned for the private schools?
We do not need certain human resources….the likes of this obviously incompetent and overzealous education minister. His motives are obviously very sinister and will affects the already unattractive profession (locally). The long term ramifications will be catastrophic as the teacher’s job will be just like that of the security guards. Young people must pass Maths, Science etc and choose ‘proper’ professions. The Minister’e edict amounts to prima facie stigmatisation and I would nt join that profession. My advice is one can join and train in teaching “sciences’ to get jobs in SA and Botswana. Most scinece, maths and geography teachers have already moved out even to UK, The EU and Australia and New Zealand. Having Maths increases the mobility of someone into the global arena….and how does that help Zimbabwe. The long term consequences are damning to say the least. The minister is a short-sighted oaf, just like Chingwendere who destroyed our education because of personal egocentrism because he had a doctorate! This one is the same calibre. You dont throw away your old shoes besfore you try the size of the old ones. Woe to you old oaf. Get to your senses. Do research based decision making and take your time to come up with recommendations. I wish I was close by but now I teach Science in Swaziland ….and They need more science teachers here and in SA. This is the worst minister and a real baffoon. Lucky I shall NEVER be affected by his foolish decisions. However I feel for my compatriots in their time of mourning the condemned profession. Goodbye teaching. It Will be “TRAINED IN zIMBABWE, BUT WORKING IN NeW zEALAND. Who, with qualifications to teach Science and maths would remain in the dead economy. Its a blessing in disguise for Zimbabweans who want to move out for greener pastures and bad for the country. Who is this Dokora I dont know about!
EVEN MUGABE WAS ONCE A TEACHER….AND HE LEFT, SO WHATS LEFT OF THE PROFESSION. NOW DONT ONLY LEAVE,…..BUT NEVER ENTER IN THE FIRST PLACE EXCEPT IF YOU ARE INSANE….LOGIC SAYS NO NO
Hon Dokora has a farm in Matepatepa.I think he made a mistake and went deep in to Dande and the nice villagers there gave him a sip of their favourate Kachasu.That one you can be drunk for seven days.Dokora is overpowered by Kachasu.Leave him for three weeks, he will be sober
Ndimi makavavhotera…
The irony is that these morons actually disrupt the school calendar every time by holding elections during the school term instead of holidays. Now they want to confine sports to weekends as if they care.
If the plan not to pay teachers during holidays is implemented then the whole education system, already in doldrums will just collapse.
Zanu p.f. will not rest till they raze everything to the ground.
This dude won’t last as a minister. Watch this space!!!
After Aeneas we now have another village missing their idiot!!
Its high time the President choose people on merit not confused cockroaches like Dokora. I wonder how he got the job. Does he consult anyone? Is he sane enough? Surely we have better people with great ideas. This chap is out to destroy the whole education system. If the teacher is not happy do not expect any results. Is he human enough? Surely we need to know his background and credentials. He is the worst minister of education since Independence.
Don’t worry about the President choosing people who are suited for the job. At 90 he is not suitable to make that decision, if he ever made better decisions before. This is the time to look at our laws and make sure that people have the power to remove irresponsible officials.
dokora and chombo are the worst ideots in mugabe s cabinet followed by mugabe himself
Ndimi makavhotera
THEY do not have the money to pay civil servants!IN which country is this proposed insanity also practiced?The fools dont have the money and all this nonsense about teachers rewriting exams is to keep them tied in knots while they cut/withold salaries.And where is that fool in Zimta/Ptuz who was gleeful rubbing his hands expecting the hefty,promised manna from heaven after the elections?
I agree with all your comments good people. The teachers should not fight these evil decisions alone. Its high time that parents told the government enough is enough if they want their children to have meaningful education. Those in power use your resources to send their children to good schools. They do not care about poor kids who lack the most basic necessities for education. Why even mention cameras at this point?
Interesting
Teachers lay the foundation of a childs future – Bob should know that if he was a real teacher
if they are not taken care of they will probably border jump across the limpopo like many seeking a better life or go aboard an aeroplane to a better future abroad
If they can buy MPS posh cars (which they really do not need and you hear an arrogant idiot like Mliswa complaining they are sub-standard) they can take care of the teachers someone somewhere should be telling them this
Presume you have heard the saying another mans loss is another mans gain?
ZANU PF government has been struggling to pay the country’s 230,000 civil servants since it assumed total control through the widely discredited 2013 polls. everyone can guess why- not rocket science!!
These people have lost the plot completely! Zimbabwe is going to have no teachers left in a few years. Everywhere else in the world teachers are paid a monthly salary regardless of it being a school term or the school holidays.