The post Extra lessons ban. Who is it benefiting? appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
]]>Several teachers’ unions in Zimbabwe have now implored their members to stop conducting these extra lessons. This is because they deem that extra lessons add an unnecessary burden on the parents to pay teachers. It was emphasised that teachers should look solely to the government for payment as it is the its responsibility to ensure that teachers are paid.
Goodwill Taderera, Zimbabwe Teachers Union (ZTU) secretary general, told the media that parents were being robbed of their hard earned money by these extra lessons. Therefore stopping extra lessons would serve to protect these parents.
The chief executive of the Zimbabwe National Teachers Union (ZNTU) supported Taderera’s point and reiterated that the teacher’s salary burden should not be placed on parents but their employer, the government.
However, some citizens have expressed that this might not be as feasible as they think it is. This is because most children have been left far behind due to the long hiatus from school caused by the Covid-19 situation and therefore need the catch up.
In addition to the hiatus, teachers have expressed dissatisfaction over the wages the government gives them stating that they are not enough to cover even the bare necessities. We covered those grievances in a previous article here.
Given the aforementioned circumstances, it would seem that neither the parents, children or teachers will benefit from the banning of extra lessons. So who is benefiting?
What are your thoughts?
Let us know in the comment section below.
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]]>The post Tension builds as teachers tell government they will not be reporting for duty appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
]]>Government, which firstly, claimed to be unable of offer compensation in US dollars had also gone further to state that teachers who refuse to report for duty must expect no salary. However, the underpaid teachers have firmly resisted reporting for duty under such conditions. Accordingly, they will only be returning to their duties if their salaries match the 2018 compensation.
Teachers unions said their members would not report for duty because the salaries they are being afforded is not enough to cover their transport costs to and from work, let alone pay fees for their own children and feed them.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou said teachers under his union would not be reporting for duty despite the 75% increment announcement. He shared the following remarks
“It’s madness of the worst order. The same government gave police, soldiers, and Central Intelligence Organisation officers more than 100% salary increases with effect from February 2021. Now they want to give the rest of the civil service 25% with effect from April, and the other 50% from June
This double standard is unacceptable. Worse still, it is not a product of social dialogue, but unilateralism. What teachers want is restoration of the purchasing power parity of US$520 to US$550 or its equivalent.
The incapacitation modus operandi will continue unabated until government takes teachers seriously.”
The 75% proposed increment has been described as a mockery to the teaching profession given that the increment would be staggered, adding that by June, it would have been eroded by inflation. The Zimbabwe National Teachers Union chief executive officer Manuel Nyawo shared the following sentiments:
“We are so much frustrated and disappointed by the proposed 75% increment which remains a drop in the ocean. The increment margin that is being offered ranges from $3 500 to
$4 500. How is the little amount going to solve our incapacitation?There is no reason for us not to demonstrate. We are incapacitated, hence we will join any other union that wants to demonstrate for our own good.”
Remarking on the decision making process, Artuz president Obert Masaraure said the salary increment had not been officially agreed with civil servants as it was not communicated directly to the civil servants.
“It was never a collective bargaining engagement between the government and its employees. Government still has powers to fix salaries of civil servants without going through a genuine process of collective bargaining. All the salaries we are earning were never a product of a genuine collective bargaining process and we don’t have a signed collective bargaining agreement,” Masaraure said.
We reject the 75% increment, both the process and the amount. The amount itself is pathetic and unacceptable. What we need is a genuine reform of the laws governing the civil service. Labour laws governing the civil service should be aligned to the Constitution so that we also have collective bargaining agreements which can govern us.”
In line with the sentiments shared by the Artuz President, Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu said:
“We have only seen the announcement in the Press. No communication has been made, but what we are looking forward to is a favourable outcome of negotiations whose results we have not received.
We are looking forward to the second meeting and an improvement from the last offer and with a clear roadmap towards restoration of salary levels matching the pre-October 2018 US$550. Anything diverting from the roadmap will be unsatisfactory and unacceptable. Dialogue should demonstrate serious attention to this demand as promised in the NJNC agreement of November 2020.”
Amidst these strikes, the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) is repoetedly set to meet this week to review civil servants’ working conditions.
What are your thoughts on the matter?
Let us know in the comment section.
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]]>The post WATCH: Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe speaks on schools re-opening appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
]]>Teachers’ blood boiled to watch the VP Chiwenga receive a second dose of the vaccine while measures to protect teachers had yet to be taken. Further complaints against the government were expressed resultantly.
More on these grievances in the video below:
What are your thoughts on these views?
Let us know in the comment section below.
The post WATCH: Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe speaks on schools re-opening appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
]]>The post JUST IN: Chiwenga vaccinated again while teachers still wait for their first jab appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
]]>This might have been a move to ‘lead by example’ and assure Zimbabweans with reservations towards getting vaccinated that the vaccine is safe. If this was the case, not all citizens accepted it that way.
This second shot has come at a time that teachers have been crying out to the government for then to be given access to covid-19 preventative equipment.This cry came after the government’s decision to reopen schools amidst this pandemic. Teachers are generally seeing this as risking their lives for nothing as they don’t all have sufficient protective wear, vaccination and in addition, might not be expecting to be awarded a sufficient compensation.
In sight of this, some teachers have complained that ranked official are accessing their second shots of vaccines while the are expected to work without having received their vaccinations. Below are some sentiments shared on the subject;
These concerns seem to hint that the public feels that high ranking officials are being prioritized when its comes to being vaccinated. However, contrary to those thoughts, the government expressed their intention to put teachers and church leaders next in line for Covid-19 vaccinations.
Any thoughts?
Let us know in the comment section below.
The post JUST IN: Chiwenga vaccinated again while teachers still wait for their first jab appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
]]>The post Teacher’s union leader speaks on rumored abduction attempt appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
]]>The trade unionist was visiting a friend when he says four men approached him and tried to force him into an IST white Toyota vehicle. Unfortunately, he says he was unable to see the car’s number plates as its back lights were off.
Chere claims he managed to escape when his hysterical cries were heard by a security guard, storekeeper and some locals. He had this to say:
“I then went to a friend’s place where i slept in the bathroom fearing that the state agents were still pursuing my whereabouts and would return to abduct me.
In the afternoon I reported the matter to the police, whose RB case number I’m yet to be given”
This alleged occurrence was, according to Chere, not the first of its kind. He told the media that he had been “abducted several times before” by means of the same “modus operandi.”
A famous classic by Euripides, The Phoenician Women, has a quote that goes,
“This is slavery, not to speak one’s thoughts”
Should the alleged occurrence and all other similar ones be true, would the above quote not allude perfectly to the meaning of “freedom of expression and speech” in the context of Zimbabwe.
What are your thoughts on the matter?
Let us know in the comments below.
The post Teacher’s union leader speaks on rumored abduction attempt appeared first on Provoker Magazine.
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