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Thandeka Moyo, Chronicle Reporter
MEMBERS of Parliament have urged Government to rethink its position on freezing the recruitment of teachers which has seen the teacher pupil ratio shoot to an unacceptable 1:80 in some schools.

Public Service regulations indicate the ratio should range between 1:20 and 1:40 depending on the level of learners.

Parliamentarians yesterday said teachers were overloaded resulting in poor pass rates.

Binga legislator Mr Joel Gabbuza said schools had been disadvantaged by the position and called on the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to speed up the process of recruiting teachers.

“The Government has put a freeze and cap on further recruitment of civil servants yet we have schools that are running with one or two teachers and ratios have gone up to 1:80. Is there a possibility of a rethink on this policy so that those schools are not disadvantaged given that we are now almost into the second term without teachers,” asked Mr Gabbuza.

In his response, the deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare, Engineer Tapiwa Matangaidze, said his ministry was still working on ascertaining the number of vacancies.

“There is definitely a rethink on that issue but all we need to do right now is to ascertain the vacancies which are there and approach Treasury to seek funding. Should the funding be in place, definitely we will see movement in that regard and some recruitment coming through,” said Eng Matangaidze.

He said the immediate challenge was to assess the vacancy levels and to source the funding requirements.

Eng Matangaidze said the exercise depended on the three Ministries, Primary and Secondary Education, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and the Finance and Economic Development.

Warren Park Legislator Engineer Elias Mudzuri said the delay in recruiting teachers was a breach of the Constitution.

“Is the Minister aware that he is in breach of the Constitution by delaying the education of these kids through insufficient teachers? It is not enough to tell this House that there is not enough funding for teachers when you have a student/teacher ratio which is not acceptable . . . Can the Ministry ensure it is done yesterday,” said Eng Mudzuri.

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu recently said the shortage of teachers would also hinder the implementation of the new curriculum.

He said the high teacher/pupil ratio was worrying.

“In a normal situation, at the infant level which has ECD A up to Grade 3, the teacher pupil ratio must be 1:25 though at the moment we are working with 1:55,” said Mr Ndlovu.

“For junior school which has pupils from Grade 4 to 7, it must be 1:40 at most though we have 1:60 or more, which means teachers have loads of work to do.

“For Form One to Four it must be 1:35, but we currently use 1:50, which is unacceptable. For Lower and Upper Sixth the teacher pupil ratio must be 1:20, though we are working with 1:40.

“We hope the Government will eventually heed our cries, hire more qualified teachers and pay our 2016 bonuses to motivate us to work harder in implementing this great curriculum.”

-thamoe