COVID19News

Half of teachers in Byo bunking classes

Fifty percent of teachers in Bulawayo are reportedly reporting for duty with the other half dodging work citing incapacitation, a provincial education official has said.

In what is likely to anger parentsย and government officialsย as well, out of the 50 percent who go to school, some of the teachers do not conduct any lessons but prefer to watch learners play around schoolyards.

Presenting a report during Bulawayo provincial taskforce committee on Covid-19 meeting Tuesday, Deputy Education Director Thabani Sibanda said most of the teachers had informed the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education that they were incapacitated and unable to go to work.

โ€œAs of Friday (April 15, 2021), we sampled 75 schools for teachers and learners attendance. The provincial teachers’ attendance as of Friday was 50 percent while learners attendance was 68 percent. The provincial teachers’ attendance drastically dropped due to incapacitation notices forwarded to the schools, to the district and the province,โ€ said Sibanda who was responding to Local Government and Public Works, Minister July Moyo, who demanded statistics on the attendance of both teachers and learnersย in Bulawayo.

The minister disclosed that the government had received worrying information that school attendance for learners in Bulawayo was below 90 percent and wanted more details from local education officials.

After the education officialโ€™s presentation, the minister was not pleased with him as in his initial presentation had said all was well regarding education.

โ€œWhen you presented you said there no problems when in fact our children are not learning, that is not fair,โ€ Moyo said, describing the teachers’ absence from work as diabolic.ย 

โ€œThese guys are using nice words to say they are on strike. Your children in this city have not been going to school. The teachers have been earning, now everybody knows the dire situation we are in economically. The  children are now back in school and the teachers announce incapacitation that means nobody is going to school essentially.โ€

Moyo cited this as one of the reasons why theย pass rates were โ€˜very bad,โ€™ย ย saying it cannot be attributed to Covid-19 alone.

โ€œNow thereโ€™s an opportunity to recover and people say incapacitation. 50 percent go to school and of that 50 percent, our information is that they go and sit. They donโ€™t teach. You are at the receiving end and I appeal to the political, civic leadership and all of us here to conscientise ourselves what are we doing to our children,โ€ he said.

The minister questioned why teachers would sit and face the children when they were together in the classroom.

โ€œIncapacitation of riding a bus, which is subsidized by the government to go and teach a child in Bulawayo who is already behind in all their education system? I think itโ€™s diabolic. It is not correct. You are incapacitated to go and teach a child, in some cases even in the rural areas where you are staying at the school and you see a child come and play all day.

โ€œYou are incapacitated to teach but teaching is intellectual property in your head, the incapacity is to tell your child who is there with you, I think we are not serious and that why I wanted this director to be honest with us,โ€ fumed Moyo.

He indicated that other provinces were actually going ahead with lessons while Bulawayo remained behind.

โ€œI know of provinces that are teaching. I think the highest attendance of both children and teachers and actually teaching is in Masvingo where thereโ€™s over 90 percent yet in another province like this one you have 50 percent. Whose children are suffering? Whose children are being discriminated?โ€ he asked.

โ€œI cannot go report and say everything is okayย in Bulawayo when children are not learning. On the other hand, the low figure of child attendance at 68 percent, is it because of the consciousness of parents to say itโ€™s better to have their children at home or are they afraid of Covid-19? We start to ask so many questions, which we must find on the ground.โ€

The minister was so incensed that he added, โ€œIf we needed  a prayer to overcome Covid-19, a more serious prayer for our children is needed.โ€

โ€œTomorrow, I need more answers that Bulawayo is in serious problems. It canโ€™t be all Covid-19. Itโ€™s incapacitation, itโ€™s a strike thatโ€™s exacerbating the situation that we had last year with a pass rate going way below. We said itโ€™s Covid-19, itโ€™s not Covid-19 alone, it is people who decided their personal welfare is at the detriment of 40 kids in their class. I am very unhappy about this.โ€

Lulu Brenda Harris

Lulu Brenda Harris is a seasoned senior news reporter at CITE. Harris writes on politics, migration, health, education, environment, conservation and sustainable development. Her work has helped keep the public informed, promoting accountability and transparency in Zimbabwe.

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