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Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter

THE Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Cain Mathema has urged the Public Service Commission to deploy teachers who know local languages for Early Childhood Development learners.

Minister Mathema said this in Bulawayo on Friday during an official launch of the trainer of trainers programme for educators, a partnership between Government and Unicef.

The trainer of trainers programme is a capacity building programme meant to train education authorities across the country to improve schools performances. 

Minister Mathema said he was aware of complaints made by different communities over the years across the country about teachers deployed to teach younger pupils without basic knowledge of local languages.

“It is a fact that in most of our communities, particularly rural communities the language of instruction for early childhood learners should be the mother tongue or the common language there. While English is taught early in school, you can expect that up to Grade Three or so, children will be communicating with the teacher more using vernacular more than English. So, with that said, you cannot send someone who cannot say Mulikaboto to Binga to teach ECD classes and then expect miracles in terms of results when she or he failed to communicate with the children in Tonga. The same goes for everywhere else in the country,” said the minister. 

He said addressing the issue of deployment of public servants who were ignorant of local languages had nothing to do with tribalism, but would help achieve social cohesion in the country. 

“What happens is total disrespect of locals, of their language, and their culture. I call for an end to tribalism. We have 16 languages recognised in our constitution. 

“Therefore, this means that teachers deployed to communities speaking those languages must have a basic knowledge of the language. This will achieve unity and social cohesion. If a teacher now cannot identify with that community through speaking, or attempting to speak and learn more of their language, she or he will forever be an outsider. 

Pointing out this malpractice is not saying people should be divided. I am merely saying people must have respect for every language, and this reflects in decision making processes about deployments,” he said. – @andile_tshuma