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urban counterparts.
Urban teachers argue that they deserve first preference ahead of their rural colleagues.
Secretary for Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Dr Stephen Mahere last week said they want to pay teachers a rural allowance as a way of luring them to work in remote areas.
But the move has been received with strong protest by urban teachers who feel that rural teachers face fewer expenses as compared to them.
He was giving oral evidence before a Senate Thematic Committee on Millennium Development Goals on progress the ministry had made in their attainment.
In his evidence, Dr Mahere said his Ministry envisaged a scenario where they make rural allowance payments for teachers and assess the effect it had.
He said this could be reviewed upwards if it fails to entice them.
“We want our teachers to have rural hardship allowance.
“We will for a start offer for, example, 30 percent of their salary and see how many are attracted. If it is a small number attracted, we might increase it to 40 percent and if they are happy it will remain like that,” said Dr Mahere.
“The challenge we now have is with our urban teachers who say you are now focusing on rural teachers who reside at their schools free of charge.
“Here in town, urban teachers are struggling with rentals, utility bills, kombis, so it’s a Catch 22 situation we find ourselves in.”
The committee, chaired by Mutasa-Nyanga Senator, Mr Patrick Chitaka (MDC-T) wanted to know when payment of teachers’ incentives would end as they felt they were divisive.
“We are waiting for salaries to reach reasonable levels, and then we can withdraw them. However, we will not withdraw traditional incentives that have been paid by school authorities to their teachers,” he said.
He bemoaned the general conditions of service, saying the profession had since ceased to be an envy of many.
Dr Mahere said teachers’ salaries were now a joke of the town as even maids could now be heard using teachers’ salaries as benchmarks.
“Even a maid when you ask her how much she wants to earn she will say “munongondipawo inopiwa mateacher iyoyo,” he said drawing laughter from the floor.
“The majority of our people are taking teaching because they have failed to find alternative employment unlike what used to happen in the past.”
Chief Chisunge from Mashonaland Central asked why teachers for Early Child Development were not being paid just like any other tutors.
But Dr Mahere said Government was indeed paying qualified teachers save for para-professionals.
He said the Ministry was waiting to secure Treasury concurrence to make payments of those para-professions — he said were very helpful as they worked well with the community.
Dr Mahere however, said education standards in Zimbabwe remained high, even in public schools which he said were producing good results.
Zimbabwe, said Dr Mahere, has benefited immensely from the Education Transitional Fund where almost every school got textbooks in core subjects, something that has improved significantly the ratio of a textbook per pupil.
leeroy
Online Reporter