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Factmore Dzobo
ON Sunday October 5, teachers all over the world celebrated World Teachers’ Day. The day was inaugurated in 1994 to honour the signing of Unesco/International Labour Organisation recommendations concerning the status of teachers on October 5, 1966. This is a day that nations, including Zimbabwe, recognise the critical contribution teachers make to the development of education. It is a day when teachers reflect on their achievements and challenges. But in Zimbabwe, the day also brings grief as teachers recall countless futile attempts to lobby their employer to improve their working conditions. It is also a day when teachers lament how this once noble profession has become a thankless job.
The theme for this year’s commemorations “Unite for Quality Education, Invest in Teachers, Invest in the Future” makes a mockery of the status of teachers in the country.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association president Richard Gundane said themes were devised for the day to activate national support for teachers and to bring to attention their plight to their employer.
“As we reflect on this year’s theme, I want to take you down memory lane…Our 2012 theme was “Take a Stand for Teachers”, 2013 the theme was “A call for Teachers” and this year’s theme we talk of uniting for quality education, by investing in teachers thereby investing in the future of our nation but the battle is still on. We want the government to recognise the critical role of teachers and we continue to demand teachers to be paid salaries which commensurate with their profession,” said Gundane.
The government is accused of failing to recognise the critical role played by teachers by paying them below Poverty Datum Line (PDL) salaries. The country’s poverty datum line stands at $562 for a family of six.
Teachers feel that failure by the government to pay them attractive salaries has made it difficult for them to do their job effectively.
Of late there have been reports that many schools in the country are performing dismally in public examinations. Many of them often score low pass rates, a situation attributed partly to teachers’ negative attitude towards their profession due to poor pay and working conditions. Zimta Chief Executive Officer Sifiso Ndlovu said teachers will continue to push for their conditions of service to be improved. He said the teaching profession was critical to the development of the country and in attaining quality education.
“A teacher is the person that makes everything happen every profession starts with the teacher – the doctor, lawyer, engineer, nurses, pastors, politicians, farmers and other professionals come through the hands of teachers but the noble profession is not given its due recognition,” said Ndlovu. From time immemorial, teaching has been a noble profession. From the days of Socrates to the time of Paul in the Bible. The Holy Bible (1 Corinthians. 12:28) mentions teaching as one of the three top spiritual gifts from God that are desirable for the growth of His church.
Teachers feel their unions are not doing enough to improve their welfare. They said divisions within the trade union movement was not good for the profession. At least three teachers’ unions represent the profession.
“I think we need to have formidable unions that fight for our rights and seek better deals with our employer. As I have come to know, teachers unions are divided with each union having its own ulterior motive. The unions are now fighting more among themselves than against our employer,” said one educationist who refused to be named citing some bureaucratic reasons.
Another local teacher, Berita Khumalo, said teachers’ unions should unite to form one formidable body which can confront the employer. “The problem is of having too many different teachers’ representatives. We are in situation where one union fights for a political cause and the other fighting for another. We now need one united teachers’ representative body that has teachers at heart and fight for the one common cause of promoting teaching profession,” said Khumalo.
Former Zimta president Tendai Chikowore feels teachers need to to be paid well in order for the country to have quality education.
“It is quite obvious that education is very imperative to the sound development of individuals and nations. Every country ought to provide its people with qualitative and not only quantitative education. And every parent ought to ensure that their child gets the best of formal education as much as possible hence we demand the nation to take the teachers seriously and pay them handsomely,” said Chikore.
Undoubtedly, education is the biggest enterprise in any civilised society. Teachers play an important role in this enterprise.
Festus Moyo, a Bulawayo based teacher with one of the private college said the training they went through to become professionals must be respected and parents should support the teachers’ welfare demands.
“I believe that teachers should get incentives from the parents to cushion them from the meagre salaries they earn. Together we must fight to give our children the quality education they need. Knowledge is power, but ignorance is a disease. And teachers who are the facilitators of learning, which is the process of acquiring knowledge at school deserve better,” said Moyo.
Despite the poor remuneration teachers are getting, the government has embarked on other projects to improve their professional well being.
A $3 million Teacher Capacity Development programme funded by Unicef was launched recently. The programme, a brainchild of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, aims at upgrading teachers’ educational qualifications to effectively contribute to the curriculum.
Online Reporter