GOVERNMENT, the World Bank and teachers’ unions are discussing proposals for possible registration of teachers under a profession council.
BY NIZBERT MOYO
If approved, the proposal will see teachers joining other professions like doctors and lawyers who get certificates before they practice and could be deregistered if they fall foul of regulations.
The World Bank, as the technical and financial partner, is working with the Primary and Secondary Education ministry, represented by Tapfuma Jongwe, who said the proposed Teaching Professions Council would seek to uphold standards for teaching staff in the education sector.
“The council must be an independent, statutory agency which exercises the powers and performs the functions through which teachers can achieve a greater degree of professional autonomy and self-regulation. This will enhance the status and morale of the teaching professionals and the quality of education being provided by the learners in our schools,” Jongwe said this week.
Jongwe added that the envisaged regulatory authority would also allow educators to have access to an online research database and continuous professional development opportunities.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) chief executive Sifiso Ndlovu said if passed, these proposals would restore the teaching profession’s lost lustre and nobility.
“We are unique, teachers are different from the rest of the civil servants,” he said.
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However, Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe national organising secretary Ladistous Zunde said his union does not agree with some of the conditions being proposed.
“We don’t want such things like temporary teachers as we don’t have temporary soldiers or temporary lawyers, people who come in and out willynilly,” Zunde said.
Teachers’ unions in Zimbabwe have always heckled over representation of educators with clear divisions around support or antagonism for and against government, which has made it difficult to find consensus on critical issues affecting the profession.
