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Hundreds of schools especially in Matabeleland region are reported to be facing a serious shortage of Mathematics and Science teachers yet thousands of these teachers are roaming the streets. Many of these teachers who are out of employment left the country to seek greener pastures in neighbouring countries between 2007 and 2008. These teachers returned home when government announced that it was re-engaging them but many are yet to be re-engaged.

The process, according to teachers unions, is so cumbersome that many of the teachers have since given up. The teachers are being subjected to a vetting process and some reports say these teachers can only apply for permanent employment after two years.

We have no qualms with the vetting process because the Civil Service Commission should be satisfied that whoever joins the public service, including teachers, meets the minimum requirements.

It is a fact that among the returning teachers are some who have pending disciplinary or criminal cases. Some of the teachers did not resign but instead just absconded and in some cases some of them continued to be paid when they had already left employment. The CSC has to capture such culprits and this is only possible through vetting hence we support the vetting of applicants that want to be re-engaged.

We, however, do not understand why it should take between six months and one year to just vet an applicant. This is a process which should take at most a few days because government has individual files of these teachers. We have stated that a number of schools are without Mathematics and Science teachers and the worst affected are schools in Matabeleland South province.

The shortage of these Mathematics and Science teachers is reported to have affected even schools in Bulawayo. Some schools in Matabeleland South are reported to be operating without these teachers. The situation in Matabeleland South is so dire that the province has been forced to engage temporary teachers to teach Mathematics and Science. According to education authorities in the province, about 50 percent of Mathematics and Science teachers in the province are untrained. It is against this background that we want to call upon the CSC to speed up the re-engagement of Mathematics and Science teachers to fill up the vacant posts.

The pupils at the affected schools have already been prejudiced and there is a need to come up with a special programme to enable them to catch up. There have been complaints that many graduates from schools in Matabeleland are failing to enrol with the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) because they do not have Science subjects at A level.

The pupils from schools in the region cannot be expected to pass Mathematics and Science when they are taught by temporary teachers.

Zimbabwe invested a lot in training the teachers who are today roaming the streets after leaving the service to seek greener pastures in neighbouring countries. Now that these teachers are back, we must get a return for our investment as a nation.

We have already pointed out that those that have pending cases should be weeded out through vetting which should not take months but days. We want to once again urge the CSC to speed up the re-engagement of teachers so that pupils especially from Matabeleland region are able to take and pass Mathematics and Science.