By Own Correspondent| Government has authorised the recruitment of an additional 3 000 teachers, Finance and Economic Development minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said

Ncube said the recruitment aims at easing teacher shortages in the country.

He said:

“Treasury has authorised the recruitment of 3 000 additional teachers in Zimbabwe in order to ease teacher shortage. Treasury has also authorised  the recruitment of about 350 university teaching staff and personnel to bolster university capacity. Key to improving service delivery.”

Treasury has authorized the recruitment of 3000 additional teachers in Zimbabwe in order to ease teacher shortage. Treasury has also authorized recruitment of about 350 university teaching staff and personnel to bolster university capacity. Key to improving service delivery

— Prof. Mthuli Ncube (@MthuliNcube) December 31, 2018

In their one on one interaction with President Emmerson Mnangagwa in December 2017, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) implored government to unfreeze teachers’ posts arguing that the teacher to pupil ratio was too high.

Said Dr Takavafira Zhou, the PTUZ president

“….We have teachers who are teaching up to 120 pupils. We told him that there is an excess of teachers that are not employed

“They have suspended the recruitment of new teachers and even those excess teachers after recruiting, we can still engage on a Government-to-Government (basis) with neighbouring countries and those teachers can get employed.

We have also highlighted that teachers are incapacitated. The basic salary of a teacher is $284 and from that $284, a mere uniform for a Form 1 pupil is ranging between $850 and $2 000.”