adminLovemore Kadzura in RUSAPE
ZIMBABWE Rural Teachers’ Union has thrown its weight behind the recent measures and changes introduced in the education sector by the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Cde Lazarus Dokora. The union said despite a barrage of criticism Cde Dokora had received from some quarters, the new measures were meant to restore dignity and transparency in the education sector.
Cde Dokora has been in the news recently for his sweeping changes which include scrapping teacher incentives, stopping extra lessons, barring O and A-Level holders as relief teachers and Form One entrance tests.
Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union president Mr Martin Chaburumunda said the minister’s sweeping changes had a positive impact on the education sector and urged those who vary with him to give the new policies time.
He further said teacher incentives segregated rural and urban teachers as the latter were only getting them. He added that incentives which were introduced by the then Minister David Coltart, divided teachers as if they had different employers.
“We are fully behind the new policies that Minister Dokora has introduced. We feel he is doing justice to his ministry. The issue of incentives is an emotional one to us rural teachers who never got them compared to our urban counterparts.
“Rural teachers are the majority, but were short-changed because the rural parents are struggling to pay school fees let alone incentives. In terms of fairness and equality the minister did justice by scrapping incentives which had created a difference between a rural and urban teacher.
“It is the duty of the Public Service Commission to pay teachers not parents. A teacher should do his best to make pupils excel not to wait for extra lessons which only a few can afford.
“We should not rush to criticise the ministry without evaluating the positives which will come along the way with these changes.
“In our view he is safeguarding and restoring dignity to the sector as opposed to others who feel he is destroying the sector,” he said.
Mr Chaburumunda added that the ministry’s decision to bar holders of ‘O’ and ‘A’-Level certificates only from being relief teachers was a welcome development as the quality of teachers will improve especially in rural schools which have been the haven of untrained teachers.
“Teaching is not a stepping-stone profession and the ministry did a wonderful job by stopping the employment of ‘O’ and ‘A’-Level holders as relief teachers. A classroom must only be accessed by a trained and qualified teacher not by someone who wants to raise university tuition fees.
“Rural schools were the hardest hit through the influx of untrained teachers and this has negatively impacted on the quality of passes with some schools recording zero percent pass rates,” said Mr Chaburumunda.
Online Reporter