Zimbabwean teachers who were recently deployed in several schools in Rwanda have refuted reports of unfair treatment in the central African country.
Earlier this week, several local teachers’ unions said they were concerned over the poor conditions of service for their counterparts who were deployed in Rwanda two months ago.
However, some of the Zimbabwean teachers who spoke to The New Times, a Rwanda newspaper, said the claims were “baseless insinuations.”
One of the teachers, Nicholas Moi, a qualified educational psychologist for the past 13 years, was quoted as saying:
I don’t know where it is coming from because surely if we are talking about our contracts, we signed them in Zimbabwe after agreeing to the terms and conditions.
I think the routine is almost the same, as the life of a teacher, you wake up, prepare your day, and report to school.
Here the difference is that maybe we start a bit earlier than in Zimbabwe, but also at the same time the workload is the same.
I don’t have a problem with my contract, I am in contact with my family, and I talk to my family on video.
I am actually travelling on the 23rd for the festive season with my family and will return shortly before schools reopen.
Another teacher, Josiah Chidawo, who teaches Mathematics, pointed out that perhaps someone wants to achieve political mileage. He said:
People were expecting us to divulge a lot of information after getting here, but it is quite unfortunate on their side that we remained calm, and just did our duties.
But it’s been more than a month and a half, and they know nothing about our arrangement. Let these people who are making these claims continue. Because it is simply a daylight lie.
Machaire Tendayi, a special needs educationist for the past 22 years, said he has never experienced any problem since he arrived in Rwanda. He said:
From the day we touched down at the airport, I haven’t had any complaints.
It is a made-up story that can probably market their platforms, I have never experienced any problem since I came here.
We meet people outside here and we talk, no one has come to us and violated our space.
In a statement released earlier on Thursday, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare said there was “no shred of truth in the baseless utterances” attributed to trade union leaders in Zimbabwe. | The New Times