……. as Zimbabwean Teachers Deserve our Collective Solidarity
By Tinashe Gumbo
Events of the last few months in our education sector have further plunged Zimbabwe into deep challenges.
COVID-19 struck during the first quarter of the year and schools were closed for almost seven months. As parents, we endured the burden of serving the academic and social needs of our children from home. Indeed, it was a terrible experience for the parents. I personally had to assist my two kids who are in form four by teaching them three subjects that I could. But surely, I could not give them the attention they deserved as 2020 examination candidates. While I am good at the three subjects, it just required qualified teachers to do so in a more systematic way.
It was also at this moment that I realized the critical role played by our teachers in socially and academically shaping our children when they spend those many months with them in class and in boarding schools. As parents, we can just shape them to a certain level. Our teachers are key in the growth of our children. Yet, our teachers are not getting the much-needed solidarity at this critical moment. They deserve our support variously. They deserve the same treatment as their counterparts in the civil service. They deserve the attention of the Government because they are not demanding too much but simply the basics.
When the Government finally announced the dates for the opening of the schools through a phased approach, our teachers could not fulfill their mandate as the custodians of our education system. They indicated that they were and are still in a situation where they can not fulfill the task.
For the first time in the history of Zimbabwe since independence, we saw a collective and united action from our teachers from traditionally antagonistic teacher unions. Traditionally, the teachers’ unions acted in a seemingly partisan manner when it comes to the welfare of the teachers. The unions normally aligned themselves with the existing political infrastructures in the country. However, this time around, we heard a collective legitimate voice that represented the apparent plight of our teachers.
It was not a voice of disrespect to authorities, but of reason. The teachers simply showed and are still showing that they are eager to fulfill their mandate but they do not have that much needed capacity to do so. Indeed, our teachers love their job and are passionate about their profession. Our teachers are simply incapacitated! They need to be enabled to do their job!
It is clear that the teachers are not well financially remunerated. Yet, other civil servants are well taken care of by the same employer. This is the main area of concern. Kusiyaniswa kwevana vemunhu .
Our teachers are now being looked down upon because of poor salaries. They have lost a sense of belonging in the family of civil servants. The traditional respect and prestige they enjoyed during the previous regime are gone. At least the previous regime had a teaching experience hence it had a sense of feeling for the teachers unlike the current one which has strong military background, some people are tempted to think that way. The teaching profession in Zimbabwe has gone done the scale of respectability. There is generally poor attitude on the part of authorities towards our teachers, or is it towards the profession itself. We need to collectively rescue this critical profession.
We should do this for the sake of our children’s future. One can not and should not be regarded as being political by supporting a genuine case of our teachers. By the way, it is now a case of our own children more than being a case of our teachers. Our children are now exposed to all forms of unbearable experiences.
I read about it, I followed it on social media and indeed, I went and saw it with my own eyes over the weekend at one of the schools. I nearly cried when I saw the children behaving like the sheep without the Shepard. As a parent, I tried my best to motivate them to continuously study in preparation for the examinations whose dates and feasibility remain unknown.
At least I felt semi satisfied knowing that I did what a concerned parent could have done under the circumstances. Our children are our future, but we are slowing losing that future to the dogs.
The challenge of our teachers is not that they are too demanding. NO! Our teachers at the moment can not afford anything that we may regard as “basics” in life.
They cannot afford transport to and from work, they can not afford basic lunch while at school, not even fees for their own children.
Surely, we are challenged as a nation to raise the status of this critical profession.
Our teachers have become shadows of themselves when their counterparts in the civil service are being well paid by the same employer.
The low status accorded to our teachers and the apparent lack of interest on the part of the authorities leave us with many questions than answers as to the grand plan of our Government in this regard. The situation of our teachers now calls for all of us who are concerned about the future of our children to act.
This is the moment for the institutions such as the Church, Business, Independent Commissions and civil society to intervene since the core of humanity is under threat. It is now about saving humanity more than just offering solidarity to our teachers. Without quality education, we can as well forget about any meaningful development in our life time.
The Government should concretely show that it is making efforts to address the matter rather than just remaining unmoved as if everything is okay.
Everything is not just okay in the education sector. From the interaction I make with friends and relatives in the sector, it is clear that our teachers are aware that the Government is struggling to make ends meet.
However, they are worried (very worried indeed) that their counterparts are receiving better treating from the same employer who seem not interested in the plight of the teachers. We have already lost a full education calendar year to COVID-19 and now our children have to sit for their examinations. Let us save this generation of learners by taking the teachers’ issue seriously.
What will become of our children in this messy? I really feel for my own kids. They had all the zeal to reach greater academic heights when they first enrolled in school.
What will they say about this regime? What will they say about me as their parent? Will they pin me down and accuse me of having done nothing to correct the ills that would have affected their future?
Surely, I will have torrid time to explain to them that the situation was just beyond my individual control. What will they say about the current crop of teachers? I am happy that my kids have already realized that their teachers are in a dire situation-the kids really appreciate that their teachers are incapacitated. Hence, they will surely forgive the teachers for their tainted future. We hope that this impasse will be broken soon, just for the sake of our children.
#tinashegumbowekumberengwa
Please note that these are my personal views which have nothing to do with the various institutions I am associated *with
