MEN SHUN TEACHING

FEWER men compared to women are willing to take up the teaching profession with numbers continually going down in each intake, United College of Education principal has said.

The college has tried to come up with a deliberate policy to avert the gender imbalance to no avail. Speaking during the college’s 49th graduation ceremony last Thursday, Mr Adam Luthuli said less than 30 percent men make up the current intake.

“Our enrolment figures stand at 2 066 students in four intakes. Of these students 1 505 or 72 percent are female and 561 or 28 percent are male. To offset this gender imbalance for our intake 18 we wanted 50 percent of our enrolment to be male,” said Mr Luthuli.

Mr Luthuli said they tried to offer every qualifying male applicant first preference but the numbers remained low.

“However, the number of men who applied were fewer than the 50 percent we wanted to enrol.

“We ended up offering places to every man who applied as long as he met the requisite entry requirements,” he said.

Mr Luthuli however, did not state the implications of having fewer males taking up the profession.

On Thursday, a total of 491 were conferred with diplomas from the University of Zimbabwe in various disciplines namely the General Course, Early Childhood Development and Special Needs Education.

In his address, Mr Luthuli presented statistics that showed that there was a huge gender disparity from Thursday’s graduands.

“I am pleased to inform the gathering today the college is presenting a total of 491 graduands comprising of 354 General course students comprising 249 females and 105 males. 124 ECD students comprising 112 females and 12 males. There are also 13 Special Needs Education students of which nine are female and four are male,” said Mr Luthuli.

Mr Luthuli also said enrolment figures for Special Needs Education were dwindling for a variety of reasons resulting in the institution introducing the Inclusive and Special Educational Needs (ISEN) programme.

The new breed of teacher, Mr Luthuli said, has the versatility to teach the regular learners as well as learners with special educational needs. Mr Luthuli said the institution was currently offering six languages, English, ChiShona, TjiKalanga, ChiTonga and Sign language and Nambya whose syllabus is awaiting approval from the University of Zimbabwe would be the seventh language.

He said the institution would only add more languages if there was demand. The principal commended the graduands for their excellent behaviour during their three-year tenure at the college and encouraged them to pursue further studies.

“In a world that has become so competitive and complex, this graduation should not be the end of a journey but a beginning. There is need to redouble and re-invigorate your efforts towards attaining higher qualification,” said Mr Luthuli.

Since the college’s inception a total number of 15 509 students have graduated at UCE. Of these, 11 628 graduated in the General Course Programme, 2 005 in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) and 1 876 in Special Needs Education.