Premature schools’ opening suicidal

THE announcement by President Emmerson Mnangagwa of opening of schools is premature as he failed to address the preconditions we set out for his government.

We remain committed to the following statement.

We, the undersigned Teachers’ Unions in Zimbabwe, are:

● Applauding Mnangagwa for deferring schools opening indefinitely in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic;

● Desirous of a safe schooling environment for our members and learners;

● Determined to deliver quality services to our learners;

● Appreciating the sorry state of the national economy;

● Concerned with the erosion of teachers’ salaries; After extensive consultation with our members.

We, hereby, jointly recommend the following to the government of Zimbabwe.

Schools to remain completely closed until the virus is fully contained.

However, if the government is able to secure around $15 billion required to run our schools during this crisis, we request the following:

● An urgent engagement between government and unions to interrogate the COVID-19 situation,

● Recruitment of more teachers to address teacherlearner ratio in line with social distancing directive,

● United States-dollar salaries for teachers in line with new pricing regimes. Further to that, the following safety measures should be adhered to on a daily basis,

● Fumigation of all schools,

● Provision of sanitisers for both teachers and learners,

● Provision of water in all schools,

● Provision of standard personal protective equipment for teachers and learners and testing of both teachers and learners.

To motivate and compensate our teachers working in a highly risky environments, we recommend a 100% risk allowance on gross income paid in United States dollars.

ARTUZ information