Teacher crisis: ‘system broken’

Deputy News Editor
THE crisis of teachers in the Matabeleland region who cannot speak the local language should be addressed from a constitutional standpoint without inciting tribal hatred, the Provincial Minister of State for Bulawayo Cde Eunice Nomthandazo Moyo said yesterday.Contributing to the on-going debate on the increasing number of teachers who cannot speak the language of communities they operate in, Cde Moyo said the issue should not be reduced to a “Ndebele war”, as it also concerns minority languages in the region including Venda, Suthu, Xhosa, Tonga, Nambya and Kalanga.

Parents and educationists blame the influx of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in the region for the poor pass rates, especially in primary schools.

But Cde Moyo said the issue of indigenous languages was pertinent in every part of the country. All languages, she said, were protected under the new constitution.

“It’s not about my daughter or son being a Kalanga to teach Kalanga. It’s not a tribal issue but a language issue. If my Kalanga child trains as a teacher, she must learn other languages that are protected in the constitution,” said Cde Moyo.

“She should know other languages so that she would not be marooned-in where she comes from. Bulawayo people should not stay in Bulawayo alone. Let them know other languages in the constitution so that they could be posted anywhere in Zimbabwe.”

The minister said learning all languages should be viewed as empowerment adding that all languages must be respected as they appear in the new constitution.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education says it is sending the Deputy Minister Prof Paul Mavhima to the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces to assess the depth of the language problem.

The ruling Zanu-PF party’s education secretary Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu is also visiting all the country’s 10 provinces to gauge opinion before preparing a policy report to be presented to the party’s central committee.

Cde Moyo said: “Yes, it’s an issue of concern in Matabeleland, but we must go beyond making this a mere talk-show and encourage the government to take note of constitutional requirements of all groups of people.”

Cde Moyo said reducing the debate to a Ndebele language dispute alone sidelines other minority groups in the region who are desperate to escape the shadow of the Ndebeles.

She reminisced how during the constitutional outreach programme last year, political leaders were dressed down by Tonga people in Binga after they addressed their meetings using Ndebele language.

“People want to be respected in their areas and not to be made to feel like foreigners. The President (Mugabe) respects this, and whenever he comes here he finds an interpreter and does not take it for granted that people would understand him,” said Cde Moyo.

“What worries me is that we seem to be talking from emotions rather than addressing this as a constitutional right. It’s not (Lazarus) Dokora (Primary and Secondary Education Minister) who is wrong, but the system. The government, us parliamentarians, must take action and put into practice what is provided for in the constitution.

“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Civil Service Commission have a duty to ensure that these languages, the fact that they are there in the constitution, they should get appropriate service.”

She said she supported Senior Minister of State Cde Simon Khaya Moyo’s stance that the language concerns were not tribal, except that anyone who works in a community should be able to speak the language spoken in that particular area.

Politicians in the region and war veterans have called for an urgent establishment of more teacher training colleges in the region as a way of addressing the problem.

The language problem flared up at a recent workshop on indigenous languages and non-fiction writing organised by the Zimbabwe Academic and Non-fiction Authors Association in Bulawayo, where the deputy provincial education director, Richard Swene, blasted the Civil Service Commission for employing primary school teachers whose first language was not Ndebele.

A fortnight ago, Cde Khaya Moyo revealed that he had spoken to Primary and Secondary Education Minister Cde Dokora to discuss the engagement of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in the region.

Educationists and analysts have accused the government of letting down the education sector by creating a handicap that could easily be avoided.