Teaching Profession Council draft Bill expected this year

THE drafting of the Teaching Profession Council (TPC) Bill is expected to be completed this year, Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) chief executive Dr Sifiso Ndlovu has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) and Health Service Bipartite Negotiating Panel workshop which ended in Victoria Falls recently, Dr Ndlovu said the Bill is expected to provide for the regulation of educators, their practice and professional conduct.

Once established, the TPC’s role will be to register teachers and issue teaching practice certificates to teachers.

“The teaching Profession Council is on course in terms of establishment. So far, we have come up with a lay-man’s draft Bill which we are now sending out to our members to comment on. We are going to be presenting it to the new Minister of Primary and secondary Education Ambassador Cain Mathema so that he can appreciate it,” said Dr Ndlovu.

He said once all members add input, the draft will be sent to Cabinet.

“We are anticipating that 2020 should be the year when we are pushing the Bill through Parliament and it should be able to sail through,” said Dr Ndlovu.

He said while there were mixed feelings on the setting up of the TPC, the majority concurred that such a body is the only way “the glamour of the teaching profession can be restored and understood to be a profession and not a vocation.”

“This Bill is important because it’s going to eradicate some of the misconceptions that teachers can be treated or paid anyhow. We want to elevate the status of a teacher to a different pedestal where the educator can be viewed once more as a revered professional and equated to other professions like engineering,” Dr Ndlovu said.

Public hearings towards crafting of the Bill were conducted by representatives from teachers’ unions, officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and Public Service Commission countrywide.

According to the draft Bill, the functions of TPC will be among others, to develop, promote and enforce internationally comparable teaching profession standards so as to improve the quality of education in

Zimbabwe.

The TPC shall also advise Government on matters relating to the teaching profession and facilitate the acquisition of knowledge by teachers through the emphasis on the need for teacher continuous professional development.