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ZIMBABWE: Teachers' Strike Infringes Children’s Right to Education

Stanley Kwenda

HARARE, Feb 2 2009 (IPS) - The crisis of Zimbabwe’s education sector is deepening by the day, as the country’s schools remain closed due to the unremitting teachers strike.

Teachers refuse to go to work unless they are paid in foreign currency, because ever-increasing inflation rates made their salaries negligible.

The ongoing strike is starting to hamper children’s rights to education, and it becomes less and less likely that Zimbabwe will meet the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal access to primary education by 2015.

"The government has failed to manage the affairs and should hand over the education sector to capable people," demanded Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) president Clever Bere. "The educational sector has virtually been destroyed, yet [education is] a human right."

The opening of schools, originally planned for January 13, was postponed until January 27. But even at this later date, doors remained closed to pupils. Universities and colleges have also remained closed.

What makes matters worse is that thousands of students who wrote exams last year have not received their results because the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) has been struggling to find teachers to mark exams. Even if schools reopen soon, pupils will be unable to move to the next educational level without the results.

A Harare parent sent a passionate letter to the state-owned Herald Newspaper, begging government to bring the education system back onto track.

"If the situation is not controlled, Zimbabwe is going to have a whole generation of uneducated and troublesome youths," the anonymous parent lamented.

Many teachers have been on strike since early last year, forcing schools to either close or run with few teaching staff. As a result, many children have already lost several months of education.

Better pay

Striking teachers say they will not return to work unless they are paid in U.S. Dollars, with the teachers union asking for a monthly salary of a minimum of $2,300 per teacher.

Currently, teachers are paid 70 trillion Zimbabwe dollars a month, which comes to only U.S. $3 on the street market where people usually trade their currency. This amount only buys about three loaves of bread or pays for a single taxi ride into town.

"Teachers are sending a clear message that we are suffering. Government must start engaging us positively," said Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary general, Raymond Majongwe.

The Department of Education claims it is trying to solve the problems in the education sector, while threatening to fire teachers who did not report for duty on January 27 in response to the continuing strike.

"The ministry appreciates the challenges facing teachers, which include high and unpredictable transport costs being charged in foreign exchange and teachers being unable to access basic food items, said secretary for education, sport and culture, Stephen Mahere. "We want to assure our teachers that government remains sensitive to their plight and is doing everything possible to address their concerns."

He promised to arrange transport to take teachers to work, implement school supplementary feeding schemes for pupils, provide meals to teachers and ensure that teachers are not made victims of political violence.

Teachers have dismissed these proposals, however, asking for more substantial incentives. "Teachers have families to feed, children to educate and a social life. What they want is money," said PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou. On the day schools were supposed to open, teachers say there was no sign transport provided for them.

Children lose out

Joyce (12) and Tendai Mukuwo (10), are two of the many pupils who found themselves in front of closed doors on January 27. The sisters, who are registered at Aspindale Primary School, near the high density suburb of Budiriro in Harare, say their teachers told them "not to bother to come back to school for a while", because the strike would continue until issue around the teachers’ salaries was solved.

Joyce, who wants to study science to become a nurse, says she is afraid her plans will be nothing but a dream if schools remain closed.

The situation is even worse in Zimbabwe’s rural areas where the teachers’ strike has been exacerbated by political violence. Many teachers are accused of supporting opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) by the ruling party, ZANU-PF. NGOs have reports of rural teachers being beaten, intimidated and having their houses being burnt down.

"We are very concerned about schools failing to open, particularly in rural areas," confirmed UNICEF country director Roeland Monash.

He believes that even if education department manages to resolve the teacher strike, the current cholera epidemic, which has already killed 3,000 people, will make it difficult to get schools up and running.

"Sending children back to school is like sending them to a lion's den because of the risks the cholera epidemic poses," said Oxfam country director, Peter Mutoredzanwa.