Teachers’ challenge dismissed

THE Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe has said it will continue with its fight against the implementation of the new education curriculum after Parliament, earlier this month, rejected the union’s petition asking legislatures to halt the process.

Parliament rejected PTUZ’s petition noting that it did not comply with the legislature’s rules. Acting Clerk of Parliament Mrs Nomasonto Sunga observed that the petition was inadmissible because PTUZ had failed to state the manner in which the organisation was funded.

“The petition you submitted is currently inadmissible for failure to adhere to the Standing Rules and Orders of the National Assembly, more specifically, the petition failed to meet the requirement as per Appendix D paragraph 3, which states a petition on behalf of an organisation should state ‘the manner in which they are funded’.

“Therefore, you are, hereby, advised to comply with the requirement as stated above and accordingly resubmit your petition,” Mrs Sunga said.

PTUZ president Dr Takavafira Zhou said his organisation was taken aback by the reasons Parliament gave for rejecting the petition. Dr Zhou said his organisation was member driven and “it was clear” that it drew its funding from members as prescribed by the law.

“I think it is not fair for Parliament to ask us to state our source of funding when they are the ones who make laws under which we are registered. We are not an NGO or a private entity but a labour union for teachers and the law is clear on where we should get our funding. We have no other source of funding but our members,” he said.

Dr Zhou said his organisation will, nonetheless, comply with Parliament’s request and will, by end of the week, resubmit the petition stating the union’s source of funding. He said PTUZ will exhaust all available avenues until it achieves its objective.

“Given the gravity of this matter we won’t stop pushing. They said we should include our source of funding; we will do that and resubmit the petition by 21 April. If the petition fails we will go back to the drawing board, strategise and continue to make noise until normalcy returns to our education sector,” he said.

In its petition PTUZ described the implementation of the new curriculum as hurried and chaotic, riddled by lack of resources among other ills. The union argued that teachers were not well trained on the new curriculum and schools did not have adequate material including textbooks and syllabi to fully roll out the new learning programme.

Meanwhile, close to 300 Zimta members and teachers’ organisations from the Sadc region are expected to attend the Zimta conference which starts in Harare On Tuesday and ends on Thursday.

Zimta chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu told Sunday News that the conference will discuss, among other things the new curriculum and establishment of a Teachers Professional Council. Veteran educationist Dr Caiphas Nziramasanga will officially open the three-day event.

“The conference will, by and large discuss the curriculum review, mainly issues to do with the implementation which we feel needs to be sharpened, particularly the four pathway system that we proposed as Zimta.

“We want to look at how best the new curriculum can speak to the global agenda of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics),” said Mr Ndlovu.

Mr Ndlovu said the conference will also discuss, among other things, teachers’ salaries and conditions of service. The Zimta conference will also see the association’s leaders seeking fresh mandates.

Nine posts, including those of president, two vice-presidents, secretary-general, treasurer and representatives of special sectors will be up for grabs. The Zimta executive is led by president Mr Richard Gundane, vice-president (welfare) Mr Tom Muzondo, vice-president (administration and finance) Mrs Shamiso Makombe, secretary-general Mr John Mlilo, treasurer Mr Edgar Moyo, national women representative Mrs Elizabeth Mahiya, secondary schools representative Mrs Violet Mutize and primary schools representative Mr Leonard Sibanda. Sunday News