THE Primary and Secondary Education ministry has joined the Public Service Commission (PSC) to identify and discipline Zimbabwean schoolteachers who have taken to selling sweets, maputi and other forms of light foods to school children during working hours.<\/p>\n
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou confirmed the matter in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll schools have been informed through a circular about the probing of teachers who are conducting extra lessons and selling sweets in schools during working hours,\u201d Zhou said.<\/p>\n
Another teacher who refused to be identified said they were visited by officials at a Bulawayo school to enquire over the practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can confirm that officials from the Ministry of Secondary and Primary Education and PSC officials visited our school on Monday and interviewed some pupils on who was selling them sweets and snacks at our school. They also interviewed other non-teaching staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwean teachers, just like the rest of government\u2019s workforce, have seen buying power in their wages whittled down by runaway inflation and as a means of survival, now resort to selling food items to school children.<\/p>\n
Some are also charging parents and guardians for extra lessons imparted on their children.<\/p>\n
Zhou blamed the practice on government which has failed to give its workforce decent wages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we do not condone the selling of sweets and conducting of extra lessons, we believe those teachers who are doing that are trying to earn a genuine living because their salaries cannot sustain them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zhou said the only way to eradicate the problem was for the government to pay teachers a decent salary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf teachers were highly remunerated, there will be no reason for them to moonlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these regulations which bar teachers from engaging in supplementary income activities and requires teachers to dress formally have been overtaken by events.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, a teacher used to buy a suit with his month\u2019s salary but now it takes the whole year\u2019s salary for a teacher to buy a suit,\u201d said Zhou.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Primary and Secondary Education ministry has joined the Public Service Commission (PSC) to identify and discipline Zimbabwean schoolteachers who have taken to selling sweets, maputi and other forms of light foods to school children during working hours. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou confirmed the matter in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[62,800],"class_list":{"0":"post-19225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-education-in-zimbawe","10":"tag-government-of-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\n