Solusi High ‘fires’ 12 teachers

THE Seventh Day Adventist Church-run Solusi High School has allegedly “fired” 12 teachers directly employed by the school before re-advertising vacancies for the same posts.

The teachers’ contracts were allegedly terminated at the end of last Term. A parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said it is unclear why the teachers have been fired.

“Some of the teachers have been employed by the school for nearly 10 years. They were dismissed at the end of March without justification. What is even surprising is that the teachers are part of the team that won the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Secretary’s Bell last year,” said one of the parents.

He said the sudden change of teachers could affect the learners, especially those preparing for public examinations.

The vacancies that have been advertised are for subjects that include Mathematics, Geography, Economics and Business Studies, Music and Ndebele.

South Zimbabwe Conference Seventh-Day Adventists executive secretary Mr Canaan Mkombe declined to respond to questions sent to him. He said the church was in the process of gathering details on the matter.

“We thank you for the questions which you have asked. It appears they are pertinent. However, we are unable at this point to answer comprehensively to the questions or make any comments. The church needs to get full details regarding the issue before responding,” he said.

Solusi High School’s School Development Committee chairman, Mr Dumisani Ncube, said the school did not terminate the contracts as they had already expired.

“What I know is that their contracts expired on March 31 at the end of the school’s term. We did not terminate their contracts. We have submitted the list of vacancies to Government so that it provides us with replacement teachers,” said Mr Ncube.

He said the school was covering its back by re-advertising the vacant posts. “We re-advertised the posts because as an astute leader you have to take precautionary measures so that in the event that the Government does not give us the teachers, we should be in a position to have suitable candidates to fill the vacant posts,” he said. — @ nqotshili