The five teachers at Ndangababi Primary School at Cross Dete in Hwange District who were ordered to leave the school by disgruntled parents and guardians are reportedly refusing to do so.
The local community recently accused five teachers of incompetence, insubordination, and disrespecting traditional and community leaders and demanded their removal by the Primary and Secondary Education ministry.
School Development Committee (SDC) deputy chairperson Olitha Ndlovu said the teachers were refusing to leave the school despite the fact that the ministry advised them to seek transfers to other schools.
Ndlovu said the teachers in question were Nkosana Toddy Ngwenya, Nelly Chisiwa, Ruvirai Sgauke, Mkhululi Maphosa, and Nyika Ndaguta.
Maphosa and Ngwenya are reportedly from Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North, while the other three were from Mashonaland provinces. Said Ndlovu:
The situation was bad here. Our school had roofs of classroom blocks blown away by strong winds in 2019. It was renovated by council through devolution funds.
But the behaviour of some of the senior teachers who have overstayed at the school is now worrying us.
These teachers do not respect the school head, they do not respect village heads.
Even if the headman visits the school, they utter a lot of disrespectful things.
She said the teachers are so rude to such an extent that they tell villagers that people in Matabeleland are uneducated.
Ndlovu also revealed that the pass rate and the enrolment were decreasing at Ndangababi Primary School. She said:
The school usually has 700 plus enrolment, but last year we were at 621, now it’s at 512 because people are transferring their children every day due to the low pass rate.
There are junior teachers who are working, but these seniors are a problem and have a bad influence on the juniors.
This has resulted in us writing a letter to the district schools inspector (DSI) so that they (senior teachers) are removed from the school. They are refusing to leave.
We cannot have teachers who insult us in front of our children when there are a lot of unemployed teachers.
Hwange DSI Walter Moyo told Southern Eye that he was not in a position to comment on the matter. | Southern Eye