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The Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (ZIMTA) have deplored the extended use of temporary contracts to hire teachers. The EI national affiliates have also advocated for students’ right to be taught in their mother tongue.

Schools in the Matabeleland region, mainly staffed with temporary teachers, performed badly in the 2011 Ordinary and Advanced level examinations. Despite the education unions’ opposition to the employment of temporary teachers, the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart, said the government would not abandon this practice, as temporary teachers were crucial to the education sector.

PTUZ General Secretary Raymond Majongwe emphasised that a survey by his organisation recently revealed that 70 per cent of schools in Matabeleland were staffed by temporary teachers primarily because the infrastructure collapse has caused qualified staff to leave from this area.

Unqualified educators running schools

“Our affiliates are confronted with a catastrophic situation. In some districts, temporary teachers are literally running the schools,” he said. “In some places, the only qualified person is the headmaster and the rest are temporary teachers, and this represents the main reason for schools performing badly in examinations, as was the case last year.”

Majongwe also attributed the poor performance of schools to the fact that very few teachers from Matabeleland were recruited by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council to mark final year exams. “Teachers need to teach as well as mark, so that they can be in a position to determine their students’ strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “But our report indicates that few teachers from Matabeleland are recruited for marking.”

ZIMTA Chief Executive Officer Sifiso Ndlovu added: “We currently have close to 13,000 temporary teachers in the country. This is too high a figure. We need to have qualified teachers available for every student.”

The unfortunate heritage of Gukurahundi

While teacher unions blame the poor performance of schools on the use of temporary teachers, some analysts cited colonialism and government neglect of Matabeleland schools since the early 1980s, during the Gukurahundi conflict in the region, similar to a civil war.

When secondary schools were built afterwards, they were very sparsely provided. These restrictions limited the number of learners who reached tertiary education.

Students’ right to learn in their mother tongue

Education activists also urged Government to revisit its policy on the language of instruction.

They noted an improper implementation of the 1988 governmental education policy stating that Grade 1 to 4 pupils should be taught in their mother tongue.

Children easily understand issues in their mother tongues at an early age, but there have been many cases where students at these grades and up to Grade 7 were not taught in their mother tongue.

Those students are at high risk of lagging behind, leading to the continued poor performance of schools in examinations.

“Gukurahundi led to the destruction of education infrastructure in the Matabeleland region,” said EI Chief Regional coordinator Assibi Napoe. “While other regions were getting funding to develop education, the region was under the hammer and they have lagged behind since then.

“Education is a powerful tool for a country’s development,” she added. “The Zimbabwean authorities must engage in social dialogue with education unionists in order to ensure the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly Education for All, at national level.”