By A Correspondent-The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is seeking to hire external experts to replace lecturers who have been on strike for the past two months, in what appears to be a last-ditch effort to restore normalcy at the country’s oldest tertiary institution.

Lecturers at UZ have downed tools indefinitely, demanding a salary of US$2,500. Currently, they earn around US$230, plus a local currency component equivalent to approximately US$200.

In a circular addressed to faculty deans, the UZ administration requested updates on the status of individual lecturers regarding teaching and learning activities. It also asked for a list of modules not currently being taught, as well as recommendations of “potential experts” who could be engaged as adjuncts to take over those responsibilities.

Deans were further instructed to submit strategic plans for fulfilling the university’s academic mandate, including the supervision of student projects and dissertations.

However, the move has sparked backlash from the Association of University Teachers (AUT), which urged its members to reject the university’s call.

“Do not submit to slavery! Ignore them. They need us more than we need them,” the AUT said in a circular to its members. “Let them go ahead with their plan to hire part-timers—security guards, drivers, and miners—to teach Block 4. We are not part of that.”

The AUT also called on lecturers to stay away from work throughout the university’s ongoing Research, Innovation, and Industrialisation Week, which is being held at the main campus.

“It is them who shall showcase innovative skills—skills that earned them houses and allowances ahead of lecturers,” the AUT added, in reference to perceived preferential treatment of non-academic staff and administrators.

Education experts have warned that the prolonged strike is likely to undermine the quality of education at the institution, already under pressure from chronic underfunding and brain drain.

— NewsDay