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Harare Bureau—
HEADMASTERS will soon start getting disaggregated salaries if the Civil Service Commission agrees to proposals by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. Disaggregated salaries refer to remuneration paid according to qualification, skills, experience and type of school headed.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora yesterday said the separation of grades would increase competition in the manner the headmasters applied governance skills in schools.

“I’m currently in negotiations with the CSC over that issue because most of them think that when they’re appointed headmasters, that’s final and they get into comfort zones,” Minister Dokora told the parliamentary portfolio committee on Education, Sport Arts and Culture yesterday.

Hurungwe West legislator Cde Temba Mliswa (Zanu-PF) chairs the committee.
“There’s a difference in someone administering a school with 100 pupils and someone with over 2,000 children. Different skills are required and there has to be competition and one should work hard to move say from Head Two to Head One. The grades have just to be disaggregated,” the minister said.

Cde Dokora said the banning of the payment of incentives to teachers by parents and guardians was in line with a Cabinet resolution.
“Some schools were increasing their enrolment because of the incentive yet they didn’t have the infrastructure to support that enrolment,” he said.

“That money should go towards infrastructure development. Circular Number 6 of 2014 withdraws the authority to pay incentives as it is in conflict with the Constitution, the Civil Service Act and Education Act.

“They were fraught with challenges such as uneven distribution, rural-urban divide and abuse leading to disharmony in the school situation and poor service delivery.”

Explaining the outlawing of extra lessons and holiday lessons, Minister Dokora said some parents wanted teachers to be their “baby –sitters”.

“Children need time to play and parents should also have time with their children,” he said.
“You can’t say your child has 8As when he doesn’t know anything about social life because he’s always glued to books. Teachers aren’t baby sitters. Psychologists and sociologists have seen the need for children to relax and play.”

He also dismissed claims by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe that the ministry was mulling stopping the payment of teacher salaries during holidays.

“They just want to cause alarm and despondency.
“How can a ministry stop that when the employer is the CSC?” he quipped.

He also dismissed media reports that teachers who failed Ordinary Level Mathematics, Science and English should re-sit the examinations to meet new government professional standards.

He said in fact, the government had secured resources to support teachers to advance their qualifications.
“We expect hundreds of teachers to be supported to upgrade their qualification from certificate to diploma, to bachelor and master’s degrees level and even beyond,” he said.

Timeous payment of markers by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council, Minister Dokora said, was subject to the availability of funds for that purpose.

“The government has not been able to release funds for Grade 7 examinations which have accumulated to $4,9 million,” he said.
“On its part, Zimsec has been managing Grade 7 examinations by using revenue generated from O and A level exam fees. This has adversely affected the payment of the examiners.”

He said O and A level examiners had received 75 percent of their dues and the remainder would be paid shortly.