THE Government has come up with a strategy that will see teachers recruited and deployed in their districts of origin particularly in rural and urban outlying areas to improve rural education and minimise staff turnover through transfers.
The development is expected to lay to rest concerns by communities that some teachers were deployed to areas where they were not conversant with local languages, leading to a communication barrier between teachers and learners, particularly at lower grades at primary level.
According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, remote and rural districts have witnessed massive turnover of teachers who transfer either to urban areas or to their districts of origin.
Director of Communication and Advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Mr Taungana Ndoro told Sunday News that the ministry had put in place a strategy meant to curb transfers and improve rural education.
“The ministry has got a strategy that is in place where we are having direct recruitment of teachers in rural and outlying areas to teach in their districts of origin. The strategy is informed by high turnover of teachers who constantly request for transfers as soon as they assume duty.
“You will notice that these remote districts can now through the Public Service Commission (PSC) directly recruit those teachers who are qualified within their districts so that we avert having so many requests for transfers,” said Mr Ndoro.
He said all districts in Matabeleland South and North have been identified and earmarked for the strategy.
“We are looking at districts such as Muzarabani, Mbire, Mudzi, all districts in Matabeleland North and South as well as Chipinge.
“Someone who has their homestead, say in Bulilima for example and is a qualified teacher and assumes duty in one of the district schools is unlikely to ask for a transfer to leave that district and go somewhere else far from home. So, basically, this we think is going to cure the issue of staff turnover through transfers,” said Mr Ndoro.
He said the strategy was also tipped to address language barrier issues where there has been an outcry by members of the public on the recruitment of teachers not conversant with the language or languages spoken in the districts of deployment.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive officer Dr Sifiso Ndlovu said the strategy will avert the challenge particularly at primary level where the mother language was key in the learning process.
“Broadly speaking, it is a policy that should be practiced and particularly observed when we are dealing with primary school children. When general teaching is done by a teacher who understands the language of the learners, it supports the development of learners in a big way.
“Organisationally therefore, that approach will work very well in primary schools. In secondary schools where there is specialisation, the children may have the capacity to understand various languages. In secondary schools I think that can be relaxed to avoid a situation where we encamp our teachers and therefore put our society into cantonment as well,” said Dr Ndlovu. – Sunday News
