Suspending teachers’ courses condemned

PETER SICHALI Writes @SunZambian PLANS by Government to suspend admission of teachers in colleges will lead to unemployment and closure of private colleges, Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) Organizing Secretary Kasando Nondo has said. Mr Nondo said Government should instead start employing a good number of teachers every year. He was reacting to General […]

Suspending  teachers’  courses condemned
PETER SICHALI Writes @SunZambian PLANS by Government to suspend admission of teachers in colleges will lead to unemployment and closure of private colleges, Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) Organizing Secretary Kasando Nondo has said. Mr Nondo said Government should instead start employing a good number of teachers every year. He was reacting to General Education minister Dr Dennis Wachinga who suggested that government might suspend teachers’ courses to allow for all those trained to be employed.. Mr Nondo said   Government should also allow for the establishment of more private schools at cheaper costs through provision of low electricity, low water charges, low taxes so that there can have more private schools to employ more teachers. He said there was also need to retire those that are due to pave way to unemployed teachers. “Promote those acting to create more positions for class teachers. All upgraded schools should be put on correct Government establishment,” Mr Nondo said. Mr Nondo said pupil -teacher ratio was still high and that there was need for Government to employ more teachers. “Some schools still operate with three teachers instead of 10, while some classes in schools have 60 pupils instead of 45, meaning we need more teachers in this country,” Mr Nondo said. He said the budget allocation to Ministry of Education was too low to employ the teachers needed   hence the need for an increase. Mr Nondo said suspending recruitment will have negative impact on the lecturers and other workers especially in private colleges and universities. He said Government should instead regulate the number of teacher enrolled and increase enrollment in other fields such as agriculture. “Stopping completely is not a good idea, let us have data of how many are trained in languages or sciences or social studies then we can reduce in some fields. What is cardinal is to employ some teachers every year so that we give hope to those unemployed that one day they will end up employed,” Mr Nondo said.