By A Correspondent- Government is concerned about the high rate of teacher absenteeism in schools as this is contributing to poor pass rates and negating the country’s vision to uplift every citizen through education.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, speaking at the 2019 pre-budget seminar here, said he had been studying the trend for some time.

He said he had noted that most teachers are not in school due to among other reasons, poor remuneration, poor working conditions and infrastructure.

Similarly, Government is concerned about some schools that withhold results of pupils who owe them school fees as it disadvantages learners from advancing with their education.

“There is an issue that I have been studying for a long time, the issue of teacher absenteeism. It is not easy to fix but we have to deal with it either through incentives or improving conditions of service and building of schools,” said Prof Ncube.

 He implored parents to be involved in school activities.

“For example, Matabeleland South has 250 schools where pupils are not passing their Ordinary Levels. There are many such schools countrywide. Whenever parents are not involved in the activities of the school, those schools perform worse,” he said.

In some provinces such as Matabeleland South, teachers cross the border to neighbouring countries to do menial jobs to supplement low salaries.

Prof Ncube said the 2020 budget will surely allocate resources towards infrastructure and schools’ development to improve working conditions for various sectors in the public service including education.

-StateMedia