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Schools open for the third term today and this is a crucial term as some classes will be writing public examinations. These are Grade Seven, Form Four and Form Six classes. These classes that are writing public examinations can therefore not afford to be disrupted. The learning of these pupils should be allowed to run smoothly until they write their public examinations.
It is therefore disturbing to learn that the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture is likely to face a shortage of teachers following the Civil Service Commission’s directive barring Government heads of ministries from making any appointments. The CSC, previously known as the Public Service Commission (PSC) under the old Constitution, is now responsible for the administration of the country’s civil service, including appointing temporary teachers in the education sector.
In separate interviews, provincial education directors said because of the CSC directive, many classes were likely to be without teachers as they cannot engage temporary teachers. The PEDs said their officers had engaged some temporary teachers but those teachers could only resume duty after approval from the CSC. Some schools especially in remote rural areas are run by temporary teachers as qualified teachers shun such areas.
It is these schools that face a serious challenge and there is a need for the issue of recruitment of temporary teachers to be clarified as soon as possible to minimise the prejudice to the pupils. There are some temporary teachers that are engaged as relief teachers for those teachers on leave even in urban areas and schools with such teachers are also affected.
The country was at the beginning of the year reported to have about 106 000 teachers out of an establishment of 136 000 giving a deficit of about 30 000 teachers. The country on average employs about 10 000 temporary teachers and it is therefore important that the CSC takes a decision urgently before pupils lose a lot of learning time.
The CSC said the decision to bar heads of ministries from making any appointments was in line with the provisions of the new Constitution whose other sections came into effect after the inauguration of President Mugabe recently. In the past, the PSC would delegate heads of ministries to make appointments on its behalf and the heads would then forward the names of the appointed persons to the commission.
The CSC secretary Mrs Pretty Sunguro said recently that any member who authorises appointments other than the commission will be personally liable for the employment costs of such appointments. She said while an Act of Parliament would allow the CSC to delegate its functions, it was impossible to delegate the power to make appointments. The CSC should therefore come up with a mechanism to speed up the engagement of temporary teachers in the different provinces since it cannot delegate such function to heads of ministries as what used to be the case in the past.
It is our belief that the CSC has in fact already put in place a new system of engaging temporary teachers to avoid disrupting lessons. What is, however, disturbing is that the PEDs are panicking and rightly so because the schools have already opened without them receiving communication from the CSC on the way forward regarding the engagement of temporary teachers.
The CSC, it seems, is yet to communicate with the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture regarding the new directive.
The Education ministry’s permanent secretary, Mrs Constance Chigwamba, said she had not received communication regarding the new directive.
The new directive to bar heads of ministries from recruiting civil servants has been applauded by civil servants unions who said the new system was a welcome development. They said the new system was likely to curb corruption within ministries as some unqualified people were being appointed to positions because they were related or were known to some senior officials in the ministries.
We want to once against implore the CSC to move with speed to address the issue of engaging temporary teachers. Zimbabwe has a 92 percent literacy rate and this is partly because most schools have the required number of teachers including temporary teachers. School authorities should focus on ensuring that teachers conduct lessons and this is only possible if they are provided with the required number of teachers by the CSC.
Online Reporter