Ordinarily,
school heads do not participate in any job action, often acting as enforcers of
government policy.
Last week, they
vowed to stand in solidarity with their subordinates, as they also feel the
punch of the economic hardships.
This followed a
meeting held on Thursday under the banner of Federation of Educators Union of
Zimbabwe (FEUZ) where it was resolved that schools will remain shut when they
are due to open on September 10 if the government ignores their demands.
The Zimbabwe
National Union of School Heads and leaders of several teachers unions,
including Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) and the Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) attended the meeting.
“The Federation
of Educators' Unions of Zimbabwe (FEUZ), comprising the following unions in the
education sector, Zimta, PTUZ, TUZ, ZRTU, ZDTU, ZINUSH, and ZINEU held a
meeting in Harare, today, August 14, 2025 and agreed on the following
resolution,” a FEUZ statement released after the meeting read.
“It demands an
urgent salary review to enable its members to report for duty when schools open
for the 2025 third term on September 9,
2025, failure of which will make it impossible for teachers to report for
duty.”
Asked whether
there were prospects of talks between government and civil servants before
schools reopen, Public Service ministry secretary, Simon Masanga, said he was
busy.
“I am at a
funeral,” Masanga said.
The government
has had several meetings with its workers under the National Joint Negotiating
Council (NJNC), but the gatherings have ended in deadlock as the government
refuses to give in to the demands of its workers
The educators
have been pushing the government for a US$540 monthly salary, which they earned
before October 2018, while other unions are demanding up to US$840.
Currently,
teachers earn an average of US$364 per month.
Teachers have,
over the years, been at loggerheads with the government over low salaries.
Zimbabwe
Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions secretary general David Datsunga
expressed pessimism over the workers having an opportunity to meet the
government before schools reopen.
“Right now, the
issue of sitting down at the negotiation table has been an area of concern,”
Dzatsunga said.
“I can’t say
with certainty that we can have talks before schools reopen.
“We wrote to
the NJNC requesting a meeting, but we have not received a response.
“We have been
to the minister of Finance (MthuliNcube) to include the cost of adjustment on
the mid-term fiscal policy but there is nothing like that.
“So we can’t be
optimistic that there will be a meeting anytime soon.”
He added:
“During the last meeting, the government officials asked for time to consult,
but I guess they have been consulting forever.”
Early this
year, a PTUZ delegation went to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's offices, seeking
his intervention over salaries and various challenges bedevilling the education
sector. Standard
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