Nash calls on Govt to scrap maternity regulations for teachers

Victoria Falls Reporter
THE National Association of Secondary Heads (Nash) has called on the Government to scrape maternity regulations, which restrict paid maternity leave on teachers to three deliveries. Under the regulations, a teacher is not paid maternity leave for deliveries after the third birth, a move widely viewed as gender discrimination.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Nash annual conference in Victoria Falls on Wednesday, Nash president Mr Johnson Madhuku, said it was high time the Government revisited the regulations on maternity leave.

“Right now the Government only pays maternity leave up to the third birth. From the fourth birth, maternity leave will be unpaid. We feel this is an unfair practice,” said Mr Madhuku.

“We are saying we want teachers to be paid when they are on maternity leave regardless of the number of deliveries.”

Mr Madhuku said the regulations were undermining the country’s cultural values, which encourage people to have many children.

“Three children is too small a number. Our culture encourages people to have as many children as they want,” he said.

On teachers’ incentives, Mr Madhuku said the facility was there to stay until such a time when salaries were above the Poverty Datum Line (PDL).

“Teachers are demotivated and they will continue accepting incentives to cushion their salaries. It is not like the teachers are greedy. They are doing it for the sake of education. Incentives are actually assisting teachers especially those in urban areas who commute everyday.

“If it was not for the incentives, the education system would have collapsed long ago. We know it is a challenge for parents but for the purposes of education let us maintain the status quo,” said Mr Madhuku.

The conference is running under the theme, “Education for a complete student”.

Mr Madhuku said there was a need to revamp the whole curriculum, starting from pre-school to tertiary level in line with the Nziramasanga Commission of 1999 in order to improve the education sector.

“The Nziramasanga Commission talks of the need for a complete student who after school can create employment for others unlike the current scenario whereby all school leavers wait to be employed by someone or some company.

“As unemployment rate hovers around 90percent, we need to change the curriculum, we need to release from our schools people who can produce for the country,” he said.