Irate teachers demand #mugabe meeting

via Irate teachers demand Mugabe meeting 21/05/2014 NewZimbabwe

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) is demanding audience with President Robert Mugabe to register its displeasure with current Education Minister Lazarus Dokora who has allegedly introduced tougher conditions for practising teachers.

The militant teachers group says Dokora has put in place plans to scrap teachers’ salaries during school holidays, install CCTV in classrooms as well as push schools’ sports to weekends.

“We want to meet President Mugabe and tell him what is going on and if we are snubbed, we will take the bull by the horns, definitely we will go on strike,” Majongwe said.

“President Mugabe appointed Minister Dokora and the successes that we are talking about, 34 years after independence, were because of Mugabe; but Dokora comes and before 365 days are over, he is already changing things.”

Majongwe accused ministry officials of instigating the installation of CCTV within Harare’s Queen Elizabeth and Gils High schools, where teachers now have to endure being watched the whole day.

The outspoken trade unionist said the system at the two schools, if not resisted, will soon be unrolled to the rest of the schools in Zimbabwe.

“If people think that headmasters can then spy on teachers and call people to say kuti this one cannot teach as what is happening paQueen Elizabeth, then we have a serious problem,” he said.

Majongwe further said there were plans by the ministry to stop salaries to all Zimbabwean teachers during holidays since they would not be at work as well as stop paying student teachers.

Majongwe said they were sourcing the information from sympathetic ministry officials while some of it has been communicated to schools through circulars.

Repeated efforts to seek comment with both Dokora and Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa were fruitless but a rival teachers group say the rumours were untrue.

“These are dreams. It’s is not true, we don’t know the source of the information while the government denies this and is equally surprised on the source of the information,” said Ndlovu.

ZIMTA is viewed more sympathetic to government while PTUZ, which is smaller in terms of membership, wants the confrontational way of dealing with government.