Devolve Teacher Deployment to Provinces Govt Told
By Gracious Nyathi
Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), Secretary General Robson Chere has urged the government to decentralize teacher deployment which has created unequal distribution and short-changed learners, it has emerged.
Concern over the placement of teachers in towns outside of their own has been voiced by disgruntled teacher’s associations, local authorities, and parliamentarians.
A situation that they feel has an impact on students’ learning and local graduates’ access to employment.
In a telephone interview with OpenParly, Chere insisted that the teacher deployment process should be decentralized.
“The Government should allow education devolution which then makes it possible for provinces to do recruitment which suits the interest of the particular areas,” Chere said.
He further explained that centralization creates problems such as teacher deficits in some areas while there is an influx in other areas.
“The current centralized recruitment has resulted in some challenges where in some Provinces there is massive exodus after being deployed to areas where they can’t speak the ethnic language from those communities, ”he added.
Concurrently, Beitbridge Paramount Chief David Tshitaudze Mbedzi said language barriers between teachers deployed from other provinces have a negative impact on the learning process.
“This causes language barrier situations.
“To teach an early childhood development (ECD) learner, you need to know their home language then you translate to English because most of them only begin using English in school so there is a need to revise the deploying system,” Mbedzi said.
Mbedzi added that the deployment of teachers should not undermine the importance of culture.
“It is not just about language, it involves culture, and the best way to preserve it is to teach it, but you can’t teach practices of other people, better than the owners can,” he added
Equally aggrieved Member of Parliament for Rushinga constituency, Tendai Nyabani questioned the deployment of teachers to communities which they do not originate from, in a parliament question and answer session last Wednesday.
There are a lot of educated teachers in my constituency, but we find that teachers are being recruited from other districts.
“What is government policy regarding the deployment of teachers in their areas of origin?”
Contrary to this the Secretary-General for the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), Goodwill Taderera said the current teacher deployment policies are fair and should be followed since the main goal is to employ the teachers upon completing their tertiary education.
“Policy issues must be adhered to regardless of circumstances. Ministry policy is literally that first out from college priority to be employed.
“As far as we are concerned it’s not about children from which areas because we believe all Zimbabweans must have equal access to employment opportunities. Unless the teachers have scarce skills,” Taderera said.
He added, “We don’t expect a 2021 graduate from college with the same qualifications with a 2018 or 2019 employed ahead of the earlier graduate.
“Unless the earlier graduates refuse offered posts. But still first from college first to be employed,” Taderera added.
