Source: Big showdown looms over teachers’ council – DailyNews Live
Mugove Tafirenyika 10 July 2017
HARARE – Teachers and government are headed for a showdown over the
proposed Teachers Professional Council (TPC) which the educators fear is
intended to kill trade unionism among their huge membership.
However, Primary and Secondary Education ministry has allayed those fears
maintaining that it is continuing with wider consultations with the
teachers.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond
Majongwe told the Daily News that government was misleading teachers on
the purpose of the mooted council.
“We have serious misgivings about the process because we have gathered
information to the effect that district education inspectors are telling
educators that they will be employed on contracts and that they will have
to ditch their unions as they cannot be members of trade unions and the
council at the same time.
“They are causing confusion in the education sector by intimidating
teachers and making them believe that the professional council is some
sort of a disciplinary arm of government when it is supposed to be a
regulating tool which should see teachers defining their own profession,”
Majongwe said.
“We have the challenge of a government that hijacks everything that we
propose and now they are going ahead with this idea without involving us
because they want to create an animal they will manipulate.
“However, if they force this thing upon us, it will suffer a still birth
as we will reject it. We will sabotage it, making sure that it becomes
dysfunctional because we feel that government wants to bring back colonial
policies where education inspectors were so powerful that they could even
beat up a school headmaster,” he added.
Education permanent secretary Sylvia-Utete Masango confirmed the ministry
was engaging teachers but denied Majongwe’s allegations.
“Those claims are misleading because it is not possible to alter their
conditions of service but that is the responsibility of the employer
(Civil Service Commission).
“Consultations are ongoing with the teacher in the classroom to get their
input and we have also a team that went outside the country to exchange
notes with others in Zambia, South Africa, Scotland and Ireland which have
the same arrangement for teachers,” Utete-Masango said.
Public Service minister Prisca Mupfumira was not taking calls and she had
not responded to the questions texted to her at the time of going to
print.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) chief executive officer Sifiso
Ndlovu said either teachers or government were misinterpreting the
requirement that educators will have to renew their professional licences
on a regular basis.
“It is a misinterpretation of what the council seeks to achieve because
renewing one’s professional licence is different from contract
employment,” Ndlovu said.
The Education ministry is currently holding workshops with teachers
throughout the country to educate them on the “need to bring sanity” to
one of the country’s oldest professions.
If approved, the TPC will see teachers joining other professions like
doctors and lawyers who get certificates before they practice and could be
de-registered if they fall foul of standing regulations.
The idea came amid concerns of a marked decline in the character and moral
values of teachers and also an increase in cases of indiscipline,
corruption, sexual and physical abuse in schools.
While education stakeholders have generally welcomed the council that
defines who a teacher is and will be given legal standing through an Act
of Parliament, unions have expressed concern that government wants to
manipulate the process to kill trade unionism.
Former Education minister Aeneas Chigwedere said as long as the council is
legally constituted, the idea was brilliant.
“What is important is that the TPC should be justiciable hence the need to
set it up through an Act of Parliament in case there are legal issues that
might arise but it will be unfair to comment on its contents before its
framework is established,” Chigwedere said.
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) complained that
the process leading to the establishment of the council was “exclusive and
secretive.”
“On the TPC, Artuz recommends the opening up of the space to make it
inclusive, broad-based and teacher-driven. There must be nothing for
teachers without teachers.
“We also call for an immediate stop to the dubious charade which is
currently going on for consultations on the TPC and to replace it with
proper consultations spearheaded by representatives of teachers and other
regional and international partners who have had experience in setting up
a TPC,” Artuz said in a statement.
Other professionals such as nurses and lawyers in Zimbabwe have boards
which monitor their entrance and exit, as well as making sure that ethics
and professionalism are maintained.
In South Africa, the teaching profession has the South African Council for
Educators which not only regulates and protects entry into the profession
but also sets minimum requirements for entry.
Zambians have their own Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ) which was set up
to improve the teaching profession and enhance the delivery of quality
education.
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