Much controversy and mystery still continues to shroud the salary impasse between government and teachers as it now seems as if a workable solution is hard to come by if the situation obtaining on the ground is anything to go by.
The delayed start of the 2022 academic calendar is now overshadowed by educationists putting down their tools in protest of government neglecting their welfare by ignoring their demands of the pre-October 2018 US$540 salaries and other related benefits, and government seems to be professing ignorance to such demands.
Such a deaf ear to the call by the civil service’s most down-graded and now a noble profession that is a shadow of itself, is only detrimental to the welfare of education. The failure to address the concerns or even striking a common ground with teachers will only serve to reverse the gains made on the academic front, as the legacy will soon cease to be a thing of the past.
Such utterances by the responsible ministry of Primary and Secondary Education where the Permanent Secretary would have guts to resort to use of threats on striking teachers and the Director of communications in the ministry that it is ‘known the world over’ to take action to reprimand protesting teachers, only shows how much government is uncommitted to address the stalemate and thus neglect of the worker who languishes way below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL).
The two higher office bearers in the ministry should take cognisance of the fact that every situation would need solutions peculiar to prevailing situations and so should the Zimbabwean case be addressed as well.
Instead of engaging the aggrieved teachers amicably, government is trying to manipulate the level of unemployment as a way of forcing teachers back to the classroom but the question still remains: Will meaningful learning and teaching take place in the classrooms?
The modus-operandi of government imposing itself over an already demoralised workforce like they did last year when the Continuous Assessment of Learning Activities was re-introduced into the system, purely portrays how much government has developed into an epicenter of egocentric individuals who rarely have no national interests as the nationalists they purport to represent.
As a result, the spat on the face so-called increment coupled with a few benefits will not solve the matter than finding a common solution that incorporates input of all concerned parties. Thus government should re-engage teachers without imposing fear through use of threats like dismissing them from work as hiring College drop-out will not solve the matter either as they still need a living wage and after all a decent life.
