THREE African countries have approached Government to
recruit Zimbabwean teachers who are on demand in those nations.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul
Mavima revealed this last Friday during a public lecture held at the United
College of Education in Bulawayo.
The public lecture, which was organised by the Zimbabwe
Congress of Students Union (Zicosu), was running under the theme: “Utilising
teachers and education in achieving vision 2030,” Prof Mavima said Government has suspended talks with South
Sudan over exportation of graduates due to security threats in that country.
He said Government was in talks with Rwanda, Namibia and
Botswana to export teachers to those countries.
“We have been approached by other countries wanting mainly
teachers who can teach English. And we are exploring the possibility of bilateral
arrangements, those teachers who are willing can then be employed outside the
country. We are working on that.
“The first country which approached us was South Sudan but
we suspended that programme because they went into some security problems. Rwanda
has now also approached us, Namibia is talking to us and Botswana is talking to
us,” Prof Mavima said.
It is estimated that nearly 20 000 teachers are unemployed
while a job freeze has resulted in nearly 13 000 vacancies.
Prof Mavima said Government is serious about addressing
teachers’ conditions of service.
He said in conjunction with teachers’ unions, his Ministry
is pushing for non-monetary incentives for teachers.
“We are working on
the provision of residential stands at low prices. We are looking at the
possibility of having three children of teachers not paying fees in Government
schools.
“We have to do the advocacy with other ministries to make
sure that it is accepted. So there are a number of things that we are working
on together. We are working on empowerment programmes where teachers can access
loans and have income generation projects,” Prof Mavima said.
He said for the country’s education system to thrive,
teachers have to be motivated.
Prof Mavima expressed satisfaction with the willingness of
teachers unions to give negotiations a chance.
“Several of the unions including the biggest union Zimbabwe
Teachers’ Association (Zimta) have come to me and said Honourable Minister we
have seen the sincerity of His Excellency and we have seen the sincerity of the
Government including your own willingness to engage us on an ongoing basis.
“Because of that we have embraced a path to dialogue
instead of a path to conflict. So we are continuing to work with Zimta and
other unions.
“But there are others maybe two of them who have maintained
the orientation towards confrontation,” he said. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment