The first term starts today, but several teachers unions
last week declared that their members would not be able to attend classes as
they were “incapacitated”.
Teachers are demanding that their earnings be restored to
the pre-October 2018 level of US$520.
Yesterday, headmasters joined the chorus, saying they had
been engaging government since October last year to revert to US dollar
salaries, but have been ignored.
“Our members are not on strike, but we are simply saying we
have no capacity to report to work tomorrow (today), and are not capacitated to
work. It is unfortunate that after declaring incapacitation we have received
threats. Teachers cannot afford bus fare to work, and as school heads and
teachers, we have no capacity to even send our children to school,” Zimbabwe
National Union of School Heads (Zinush) secretary-general Munyaradzi Majoni
told NewsDay yesterday.
He said Zinush last week wrote to Public Service minister
Paul Mavima notifying him that school heads and teachers were incapacitated.
School heads in the country reportedly earn around $30 000
per month, which was recently cushioned by the US$75 COVID-19 allowance
extended to all civil servants.
“Our first letter was in October 2021, followed by another
letter on January 27, 2022, where we asked the government to consider restoring
the salaries of the education sector because we knew that schools would open
and there would be perennial problems of teachers not going to work. Mavima decided to ignore our letters, and we
have no option now except to declare incapacitation,” he said.
“The government proceeded to announce the schools’ opening
date without addressing these key fundamentals. Reports coming from our members
in the 10 provinces clearly show that they are largely incapacitated to go to
work, apart from the fact that the majority of them are failing to raise fees
for their own children.
“In the current circumstances, our members may not be
available in schools on February 7, 2022 as expected by our employer, and
neither will they be able to comply with the usual demand for statistics and
other details on the state of schools.”
Kast year, government invoked the no-work no-pay policy for
striking teachers and tasked school heads to give names of teachers that were
not attending classes. Majoni said headmasters were also warning government
against victimisation.
“If government dares to victimise our members, we would not
take it lightly. We will take all the recourse possible for workers’ rights to
be upheld. Headmasters are not on strike. They are just incapacitated. Take
this as an example, if you pluck out a locust’s wings, will it be able to fly?
Obviously it can’t,” he said.
“That is the same situation with the school heads, they
want to be on duty tomorrow (today), but they are financially incapable. We are
not forcing heads to stay away from work. Those who feel that the earnings that
they are getting from government are enough to sustain them while at work can
do so. We will use all means necessary to defend our members.”
Mavima refused to comment on the issue yesterday.
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is better
placed to respond to the questions on that matter,” Mavima said.
Primary and Secondary Education ministry secretary Tumisang
Thabela referred all questions to the ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro,
whose number was not reachable yesterday.
In an interview with NewsDay last week, Ndoro said the
government was not fazed by the teachers’ threats to boycott classes at it had
become a “trend” whenever schools reopened.
The move by headmasters was welcomed by teachers’ unions
yesterday.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general
Raymond Majongwe said: “We expect school heads to be on the side of teachers.
It is wrong for them to believe that they are a different set of employees from
teachers. They share the same background of training. If they work together
with a teacher, it means the struggle will be won faster. After all, school
heads are senior teachers. The bottom line is that teachers and school heads
are the same.”
Zimbabwe Teachers Association president Richard Gundane
applauded the school heads for rallying behind the teachers.
“We work together with the school heads, and we must all be
honest on the factual information on our welfare. It is wrong for employees to
back bite each other, if we are to win the struggle. It is very important that
we speak with one voice in our call for the government to improve our welfare.”
Meanwhile, scores of boarding school pupils who had not
paid their fees in full were turned away yesterday.
When NewsDay visited the Harare showgrounds open space
where students were boarding buses, school authorities were demanding proof of
payment from pupils before being allowing them onto the school bus.
Government has approved fees increases of between $70 000
and $100 000 for boarding schools for the first term, despite it being shorter
by a month. Parents yesterday told NewsDay that they were struggling to raise
school fees as they were above their monthly earnings.
One parent, Cecelia Masuka, said: “Sending a child to
school is now very hard. The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe has pegged the family
basket at $73 000, which shows that the cost of living is very high. I need to
pay $83 000 for my child who is doing Form Three at a boarding school (name
supplied). I have another child who is doing Grade 6, where I have to pay $12
000, yet I only earn $45 000 per month. It is difficult to make things work
given the measly earnings. I asked to pay half the fees, but the school
authorities refused.” Newsday
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