Govt recruits more teachers

MORE than half of the extra 10 000 teachers needed by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education have now been recruited over the last couple of months.

The Public Service Commission has approved the recruitment of 3904 teachers whose names will be published in the media today, adding to the 1 464 that were recruited in March, taking the total since the beginning of the year to 5368.

The new teachers will be deployed to both primary and secondary schools.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education hopes more teachers will be employed during the course of the year.

Last year, Government recruited 3 816 teachers, with 835 of them replacing teachers who did not report for work after the previous recruitment in 2020.

The outbreak of Covid-19saw the education sector decongesting classrooms by cutting class sizes, contributing to the need for the recruitment of more teachers.

On Tuesday, Cabinet lifted the ban on school sporting activities meaning the school calendar is now fully operational.

Primary and Secondary Education communications and advocacy director Mr Taungana Ndoro said the recruitment of teachers is significant as it will address the shortcomings that exist in the education sector.

“It is significant because it will then help us adhere to standard operating procedures so that we do not have bloated classrooms. It also assists us in areas where there are no teachers at all and also for some learning areas that are lagging behind. It is a step in the right direction and as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, we are very happy that the Public Service Commission and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare has recruited those teachers,” said Mr Ndoro.

“We expect to get more teachers as the year progresses and even in future because we are in need of more teachers but this is a step in the right direction. You will find that it varies with the kind of enrolment. We had hoped that this year we would get 10 000 but with this additional 3900, we are now at around 5000 including the first batch of 1500 that was recruited. So, for this year we have covered over 50 percent but obviously we are looking to have more teachers because we have areas where we have a limited number of teachers.”

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