Teachers get stands

Housing Development Trust.

Speaking during the handover of the stands to the teachers in Harare, TUZ chief executive Mr Manuel Nyawo, said the move would cushion the Government workers. He said their salaries were below the poverty datum line.
Mr Nyawo said the US$56 teachers were getting, as housing allowance was not enough to pay for a room in Harare.
“The educators, despite being an important group in the society, are failing to make ends meet because of low salaries. Most of them have failed to secure decent accommodation in the past years and it is high time we try by all means to do it for ourselves,” he said.

The 600 square meter stands cost US$3 200 each and the teachers will have US$88 deducted from their salaries every month. Most teachers are earning between US$300 and US$350. The scheme is also being extended to other teachers countrywide.
Mr Nyawo said Government was failing to offer non-monetary incentives to workers, hence the need for teachers to come up with such strategies.
“We have been promised many things as part of the non-monetary incentives and several ministerial committees have been set up but they have brought us nothing.

We have to think outside the box for us to have good shelter and other basic needs,” he said.
Zimbabwe is facing housing problems with over a million people estimated to be in need of accommodation. The number is increasing due to the rural-urban migration. TUZ also launched a laptop programme aimed at keeping the teachers abreast with changes in technology. Mr Nyawo said while the Presidential computerisation programme benefited students, teachers should also be taken aboard.

He said the laptops would make planning “easier” for the teachers.
“President Mugabe has done well for our schools but the educators also need the laptops for scheming, marking and storing information.
“The world is changing and new technologies are emerging and teachers should not be left out. Zimsec has already introduced e-marking and the examiners are teachers,” he said.

Ms Doreen Mubai of Parirehwa High School in Domboshava who got a stand and a laptop said her dream of owning a house would now be realised.
“This is an asset I have been longing for the past 18 years I have been in the teaching field but now I am happy this dream is almost coming to fruition.
“We have been given stand numbers and we have seen the stands, so nothing will stop us from building,” she said.

Another beneficiary, Mr Wellington Chikonye added: “There was no way I was going to get a stand because it is impossible for a teacher to raise that amount once. This is our time and I hope other teachers are also going to benefit.”
The event also saw the grocery scheme that was launched last week in Buhera being extended to teachers in Harare.