The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) has urged the government to review teachers’ salaries in accordance with the recommendations made during the United Nations Transforming Education Summit (TES).
TES called for better working conditions for teachers, including fair salaries, adequate resources, and supportive environments that promote teacher well-being and effectiveness, among other things.
In a statement commemorating World Teachers’ Day on October 5, ZIMTA said teachers are overworked, underpaid, and undervalued.
The union said this has resulted in demotivation and underperformance of educators. ZIMTA said:
In its worst form, this has resulted in a qualified teacher shortage in schools, and this derails the gains made so far under the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal, SDG4…
Every Zimbabwean Child deserves to be taught by a qualified Teacher, therefore it is against this Right and Background that we call on our government to increase its pace in employing more qualified teachers in schools in order to cover the existing teacher deficit in our public schools.
ZIMTA also called on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to ensure that the education sector receives the mandatory minimum allocation of 20 per cent of the national budget. It said:
This is not only a way of fulfilling the international benchmarks on education financing, but this is one way of moving towards a significant commitment to investing into the future, while making access to quality public education a reality for all citizens.
On one hand we are calling for a more robust social dialogue with educators and on the other hand we want our government to prioritize increasing funding for education.
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