adminTinomuda Chakanyuka, Sunday News Reporter
THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is seeking more funding to assist teachers upgrade their educational qualifications under the Teacher Capacity Development programme.
Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango told Sunday News that negotiations were on with Treasury to secure more funding for the programme.
The first batch of over 2 000 teachers benefited from the scholarship programme which was introduced in 2015. The teachers are enrolled at various tertiary institutions across the country.
A total of $3 million was availed for the programme at its launch, with the Government injecting $600 000 while the other $2,4 million was donated by Unicef. About 300 teachers recently graduated with post-graduate diplomas in education under the programme.
Dr Utete-Masango said the second batch of beneficiaries of the programme is scheduled to start their studies in 2017 subject to availability of funds. She, however, expressed confidence that funding would be secured, stating that the number of beneficiaries would be determined by the amount of money secured.
“As you know the programme is a continuous one, it’s not a once off thing. So we are still in discussions with the Ministry of Finance for funding. We know that resources are scarce but we are planning on that understanding. We are in the process of coming up with a national budget and we will table our submissions on how much we need for the programme,” she said.
Dr Utete-Masango was, however, not in a position to say exactly how much her ministry required for the programme.
She added: “We are also in discussions with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development for a combined effort to secure the required funding. I can’t exactly say how many teachers we would want to cater for this time around because that is dependent on the available funds and the fact that we are also looking at areas where we have critical shortages.”
Zimbabwe has a serious shortage of Science and Mathematics teachers. The Capacity Development Programme, a brainchild of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, was launched by President Mugabe two years ago. It is one of the five pillars of the new education curriculum framework for primary and secondary schools which was piloted this year.
According to the new curriculum framework, the Capacity Development Programme is meant to upgrade diploma-holding teachers to first education degree professionals. First degree holding teachers would be expected to upgrade to Masters Degrees.
Five local universities, namely University of Zimbabwe, Great Zimbabwe University, Midlands State University, Bindura University of Science Education and the Zimbabwe Open University have partnered the Government for the Capacity Development Programme.
Some of the disciplines available for further study under the programme include, Sciences, Mathematics, Education Planning, Building and Designing, Languages, Humanities and Information Communication Technology (ICT).
Under the programme, beneficiaries have their tuition covered by the Government for the duration of their studies. The money would not be deducted from their salaries, as they would be bonded and expected to work for Government for a specified period.
@irielyan
Online Reporter