This was said by Primary and Secondary Education ministry
spokesperson Taungana Ndoro, who told NewsDay that government will also speak
with different teachers’ unions on the way forward.
Government has not yet announced the school opening dates,
but last month President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered that preparations should
begin.
Last Friday, government and teachers’ unions held a virtual
meeting where the teachers’ representatives managed, for the first time, to air
their grievances.
“The ministry has always been concerned with ensuring
quality education in schools. We welcome
all unions who represent teachers for the betterment of the educational
system,” Ndoro said.
“However, the ministry also represents about two-thirds of
the teachers who are not subscribing to any union. Therefore, government always
strives to avail the required resources to meet the needs of both learners and
teachers for a flourishing education system,” he said.
The unions that spoke to NewsDay after the meeting with the
Primary and Secondary Education ministry secretary Tumisang Thabela and several
education stakeholders last week aid the $500 million should be used for
procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Artuz)
president Obert Masaraure said during the meeting, teachers raised a number of
grievances, including that parents could not afford to foot the bill for PPEs.
We highlighted the unpreparedness of schools to open given
government’s reluctance to assist in safe schools’ opening. Artuz bemoaned the
fact that government had issued a decree for parents to entirely foot the bill
for the implementation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) disregarding
the fact that citizens had their savings and livelihoods eroded by
COVID-19-induced lockdowns. The ministry admitted that this was an error and
government had reserved $500m for schools for the SOPs,” Masaraure said.
He said Artuz also raised the issue of an increase in child
abuse cases and urged the ministry to craft legislation to protect children
against harmful social, religious and political practices.
Low salaries were a key point of discussion and the unions
asked government to improve their working conditions.
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe president
Takavafira Zhou said it was essential for government to utilise the knowledge
and experience of serving teachers to devise policies to enhance a sustainable
education system.
“The ministry needs to move away from its closeted research
and self-pollination in order to accommodate other research by teachers’
unions, particularly over fast-tracking of the continuous assessment learning
area programme on a zero-budget and without adequate timeframe for engagement
with teachers, standardisation and interoperability,” he said.
Zhou said government and teachers agreed that there should
be wide consultations before the reopening of schools.
“It is noteworthy that the crucial issue of starvation
wages was not discussed because it does not fall under the Education ministry’s
purview, but that of the Public Service Commission (PSC). It is, however, our
hope that the line ministry must also urge Cabinet to address this quandary as
it has a bearing on the successful opening of schools,” Zhou said.
He said PSC was using a rusty collective bargaining
approach and an archaic Statutory Instrument 141 of 1997, while section 65 of
the Constitution called for robust and fair collective bargaining.
“Engaging in constructive dialogue with teacher unions can
ensure that reform initiatives and policies are supported by the very people
who have to implement them,” Zhou said. Newsday
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