Spare a thought for rural teachers

In most rural schools, teachers have to grapple daily with a critical shortage of textbooks and other essential learning materials.
They have to contrive ways of circumventing such shortages by digging deep into their personal resources to acquire books which they are subsequently forced to share with their pupils. The situation is further compounded by the fact that most qualified teachers shun these remote areas. Rural settings also become rigorous to teachers because of a critical shortage of accommodation.

Teachers and their families are practically forced to squeeze into a few housing units that in most instances are dilapidated and inhospitable thus further compromising in their dignity and privacy. In some instances the gruelling rural milieu is further exacerbated by perennial shortages of safe water. Usually boreholes are broken down and those that are functional are located far away from schools. Teachers are therefore forced to walk excruciating distances after a tiring day to fetch drinking water and do some laundry.
We have also heard cases of teachers who find themselves in rural communities that are inherently unfriendly and hostile to aliens. These communities do not trust people who do not hail from their vicinity and as such are always at loggerheads with the teachers. Once in a while the teachers are threatened with supernatural attacks or even subjected to physical attacks.
All these challenges apparently constitute the formidable conditions that some rural teachers are exposed to daily in their line of duty. Their sacrifice and commitment should compel us to applaud plans to award 20 percent rural allowance to rural teachers and should further still spur us to pray that the incentive be regularly reviewed upwards.

However, it is an inescapable fact that rural teachers are not the only civil servants domiciled in rural areas and subjected to these unfavourable conditions. We also have nurses, policemen, environmental technicians and agricultural extension officers among other government workers who are confronted by similar multi-faceted challenges on a daily basis.
The consequential question is who will cushion these other government workers from the gruelling rural challenges if their employer partially awards rural incentive to teachers. The gist of the argument is that just as the teachers require incentives to improve their welfare so do the rest of other civil servants domiciled in the rural areas. A similar matrix currently exists in the urban settings where government is promoting an incentive system for teachers to cushion them against the biting economic challenges. Yet their counterparts from other ministries are grappling with inadequate salaries.

These teachers buy their supplies from the same shops that other unincentivised civil servants buy from. Similarly they sent their children to same schools hence they have similar financial needs. It is therefore patently unjustified and discriminatory for government to only award incentives to teachers.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Finance seems to be regularly applying the skewed financial template of cushioning other government officials while giving a blind eye to others. The ministry has a conspicuous penchant to splash money towards some supposedly influential groups of government workers.

Under the treacherous guidance of IMF, the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, has continually said that government is broke. Surprisingly, he recently bought top of the range vehicles for ministers, their deputies and permanent secretaries without any qualms.
Analysts contend that the range of vehicles acquired is not commensurate with claims from the ministry that the economy is poorly performing. Despite its conspicuous austerity measures against the majority of civil servants, the same ministry splashed millions of dollars for legislator’s allowances. Each of the 211 legislators will receive a decent sum of US$15 000.

These are the influential government officials whom Tendai Biti feels should get a better part of the national cake. In the same breath, teachers, because of their influential labour union ties are being given better treatment ahead of other workers.

It can be discerned that teachers are receiving better labour deals because they belong to powerful labour bodies like Zimta and PTUZ unlike the rest of their counterparts who belong to the less influential Public Service Association. It is also worth noting that the teacher unions are affiliated to the powerful yet politically biased Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
It is therefore disconcerting that while all civil servants are grappling with similar financial challenges, government is only approving incentives for the influential government workers.