Disabilities body happy with teachers’ recruitment

THE recruitment of 347 persons with disabilities translating into a hundred percent among the 1,432 teachers that were recruited this month has elated the Special Education Teachers union of Zambia (SPETUZ).

SPETUZ president Frankson Musukwa said this was a clear demonstration of government’s commitment to realizing the rights of persons with disabilities as stipulated in the UN Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Article 27 of the Persons with Disabilities Act No. 06 of 2012 vision 2030 reaffirms the commitment to leaving no one behind.

Dr Musukwa said there was no doubt that the country through the Teaching Service Commission ( TSC) had made remarkable progress in creating sustainable employment opportunities for graduates with disabilities .

He was speaking with the Daily Nation in an interview in Kitwe.

“We are delighted that Government through the Teaching Service Commission and Ministry of General Education has yet again lived up to their word and our expectations that a 100 percent of graduates with disabilities applicants have been included among those being employed in civil service,” he said.

Dr Musukwa said the TSC had increased the recruitment rate from10 percent to a 100 percent, thereby deploying all the applicants with disabilities that had responded favourably to the teacher recruitment advert of April 13, this year.

He noted with pleasure that such blessings to persons with disabilities were part and parcel of the most apparent promising good will of the new administration of President Hakainde Hichilema.

Dr Musukwa however noted that more needed to be done to ensure that the Statutory Instruments were enacted to implement the Persons with Disabilities Act No. 06 of 2012 across all sectors to guarantee their rights as citizens.

Government, he said, should ensure that the legislation was effectively implemented.

He appealed to the new administration to increase the allocation on recruitment of special education teachers and teachers with disabilities in next recruitment exercises.

We are delighted that Government through the Teaching Service Commission and Ministry of General Education has yet again lived up to their word and our expectations that a 100 percent of graduates with disabilities applicants have been included among those being employed in civil service,” he said.