Teachers demand Treasury bailout for schools' support staff

THE Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has written to the Finance ministry demanding that it should come up with modalities to pay salaries for around 60 000 school ancillary staff that are normally paid through tuition fees and levies.

Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zimbabwe has been on lockdown since March 30, while schools were closed on March 24 and are not likely to reopen soon.

In a letter dated May 6, 2020 gleaned by NewsDay, PTUZ said government must now provide a financial bailout to schools so that they can pay salaries of non-teaching staff by utilising part of the $18 billion bailout package for distressed companies and individuals to pay the 60 000 affected workers.

“Schools were closed on March 24, 2020 and have not been allowed to open since then and will be closed for the unforeseeable future, possibly until deep into the scheduled second term of 2020, and this means that schools are unable to raise funds through the usual platform, tuition fees and levies,” the letter to the Finance ministry read.

“The situation is most urgent, considering that at the end of this month, both public and private schools will not be able to pay their approximately 60 000plus strong ancillary staff complement.

“From the foregoing, therefore, it is clear that some kind of bailout is urgently needed in order to avoid the inevitable situation of starvation for these hardworking members.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the education sector, where schools administer “O” Level and “A” Level examinations in June, but students have not been learning since March as the measures taken by government to fight the pandemic stipulate that there must not be gatherings of more than 50 people.