Matabeleland still short of teachers

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BULAWAYO, Matabeleland North and South provinces are experiencing a shortage of trained teachers and have many vacant posts despite a recruitment exercise

BULAWAYO, Matabeleland North and South provinces are still experiencing a shortage of trained teachers and still have many vacant posts despite a recruitment exercise that also targeted retired teachers early last month, Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora has said.

NQOBILE BHEBHE CHIEF REPORTER

Many teachers left the civil service together with other professionals at the onset of Zimbabwe’s economic downturn in 2000.

Giving an update on the uptake of teaching posts during a question and answer session in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Dokora said his ministry was still in the process of filling all vacant teacher and head posts in schools with the approval of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in line with the requirements of the Constitution.

“To ensure proper management of schools, the ministry, through various provincial education offices, always rationalises the filling of heads and deputy head posts with a view to ensuring that where there is no substantive head, the substantive deputy head can act in the post,” he said.

Dokora said as of January 31, there were 16 vacancies for deputy heads in the 110 schools.

Out of the 260 primary schools in Matabeleland North, there were 142 vacant posts for headmasters and 18 vacancies for deputy heads of secondary schools in the province’s authorised establishments.

Matabeleland South’s 324 primary schools still had 124 vacant posts.

Dokora said Bulawayo only had one headmaster vacancy out of 125 schools.

Matabeleland North had the highest number of teaching vacancies with 209 at primary level and 23 for secondary level.

Matabeleland South had 127 unfilled posts at primary level and 32 for secondary.

Dokora added that his ministry also provided for a senior teacher in a satellite school who acts as a teacher-in-charge (TIC) until such time as the school is registered after meeting the requisite provisions.