Primary and Secondary Education Minister Ambassador Cain
Mathema said Government was working on hiring every qualified teacher in
Zimbabwe, a project which will be done in consultation with the Ministries of
Finance and Economic Development and that of Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare.
This comes at a time when schools reopened yesterday for
the second phase that saw Grade Six, Form Three and Form Five classes returning
to school.
Schools closed prematurely towards the end of the First
Term in March as part of measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Government
resolved to reopen schools in three phases to allow room to monitor challenges
that may arise.
The examination classes reopened on September 28 while the
last batch will reopen on November 9.
The Ministry recently came up with Standard Operation
Procedures (SOP) to guide the safe reopening of schools as learning
institutions adopt a new normal in view of the global pandemic.
The measures include reducing class sizes to a maximum of
35 pupils to decongest classrooms in adherence to social distancing
requirements.
In an interview, Minister Mathema confirmed the recruitment
of more than 5 000 teachers this month and plans to recruit more. Pupils walk
from school after lessons in Bulawayo yesterday
“The Government has just recruited 5 000 teachers in a
drive to employ the over 20 000 unemployed qualified teachers that we had by
last November. I don’t have a breakdown of how many teachers were allocated to
each province during the last recruitment but the process has been completed
and we are working towards hiring more,” said Minister Mathema.
He said the outbreak of the global pandemic which has
claimed 227 lives in Zimbabwe had necessitated the recruitment of more
teachers.
“Covid-19 has also encouraged us to hire more teachers, it
has necessitated us or forced us to increase the number of teachers because of
social distancing. It is our wish that we employ every qualified teacher and
procedure states that this has to be done in consultation with the Ministry of
Public Service and Ministry of Finance,” added Minister Mathema.
“The establishment that we have requires more teachers but
it is dependent on the availability of funds but as a ministry we are ready to
employ all the teachers that are trained. In any case we still need 3 000 new
schools in Zimbabwe and that will require more teachers than what we have.”
According to Minister Mathema, in rural areas, 500 families
should have their own primary and secondary school, a requirement which has not
yet been met.
“Zimbabwe needs more than 3 000 additional schools to cater
for the growing number of learners in both primary and secondary schools. We
need to work together with councils, churches and other private players so that
we construct these schools,” added Minister Mathema.
He said Government was still negotiating with disgruntled
teachers who are on strike. “We are still engaging them in negotiations and
hope that soon we will reach a compromise and they return to work.” Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment