By Nyasha Chuma
Zimbabwe’s largest teacher trade union has threatened to launch countrywide rolling protests if government does not cushion hard-pressed teachers against rising inflation by implementing several cushioning measures including paying their December bonus in United States dollars.
The educators are also demanding that government puts in place a facility that enables teachers to access the weekly US$50 from their individual nostro accounts.
This has been necessitated by failure of the majority to access their weekly forex allocations availed to them via local banks and Bureau de changes by RBZ.
“Ultimately, this move will enable educators to access part of their salaries in USD and eventually solve a longstanding grievance from the teachers,” Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The ZIMTA-Ehlekweni Vocational Training Institute Declaration of 06 November 2021, resolved that the employer must pay the 2021 bonuses for educators in full this November to cushion educators against inflation induced income losses,” ZIMTA added.
Starting this November 2021, Teachers want invigilation of examinations to be paid for by ZIMSEC, saying it is the only way to guarantee quality of examinations while motivating teachers and introducing equity in treatment.
“Evidence at hand has proved that ZIMSEC has the capacity to pay for invigilation of exams by Teachers,” ZIMTA said.
Teachers are also demanded that the employer ought to pay for all their specific sector allowances with effect from December 2021.
“Finally, and most importantly, the declaration stated that the salary for a Grade D level Teacher of USD$540 has to be honored by November 2021 at the latest.
“The ZIMTA-Ehlekweni Bulawayo, November 2021 Declaration further stipulates and warns the employer that failure to meet these demands from the educators, within the above specified time frames may lead into disruptions of activities within schools, compromising the quality and equal access to education for learners, disturbing examination invigilation and ultimately the failure of moderation and capture of CALA results.”
“In the 6 November ZIMTA – Ehlekweni Declaration Statement, the Teachers declared that, unspecified actions emanating from teacher disgruntlement were likely to occur should their demands be ignored.”
