THE ongoing debate on the deployment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in Matabeleland has become an emotive one.
Politicians are falling over each other as they try to put forth their views on this unfortunate situation. Suspicion is rife in some social circles that this equivalent of an “educational genocide” has been deliberately put in place to stifle sectarian growth.
Politicians and villagers alike are up in arms against the deployment of teachers with questionable aptitude in the social application and in the teaching of the Ndebele language in predominantly Ndebele-speaking areas.
Many argue that teachers with “alien” language skills should not teach beginners who have no idea of what schooling entails. Parents want their children to receive guidance and encouragement from teachers in their mother tongue in this long fight against illiteracy.
As people scream about the unsustainable tribal imbalance of teachers in Ndebele-speaking areas, not a single soul has given due regard to the root causes of the prevailing situation. No one has giving attention to whether Ndebele-speaking people actually get the opportunity to train as teachers or not and if they do, where do they disappear to after qualifying as teachers?
The possible causes could include the teacher training institutions receiving very few applications from prospective Ndebele-speaking students and a recruitment process that is riddled with practices of unfair bias against Ndebele-speaking applicants.
The government and indeed the whole country at large should look closely and identify which of these two possibilities is wrecking havoc in the appropriate deployment of teachers in Ndebele-speaking areas. Affirmative action could help resolve the identified anomalies.
The government has to find out why suitable Ndebele-speaking candidates are not taking a keen interest in becoming teachers. The government can also instruct teacher training colleges to embark on an affirmative recruitment drive targeting Ndebele-speaking candidates with suitable secondary or tertiary qualifications.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Such affirmative action to recruit people who understand the language of infants/pupils in specific areas would help allay any suspicions of social engineering and quell any tribal disquiet that may be brewing.
This would not be the first time Zimbabwe took drastic measures to solve a crisis in the provision of teachers to meet specific needs. In the early nineties Zimbabwe sent a number of students to Cuba to train as Science and Mathematics teachers in order to address a shortage in those areas.
The Cuban alternative proved that things could be done if the government fully applied itself to its duties. The government can show zeal and commitment in providing training slots for Ndebele-speaking students by lending political weight to affirmative recruitment.
Surely there are a number of Ndebele-speaking candidates who would make themselves available for the going vacancies.
If such an affirmative drive fails to yield suitable candidates, then only prayer would provide educational salvation and deliverance from illiteracy to the kids in Ndebele-speaking areas. Failure to get enough Ndebele-speaking candidates with the minimum required qualifications would offer sceptics the fire power to blame the ugly hand of prolonged social engineering.
It is possible that some people may claim that years of educational apartheid have damaged Ndebele-speaking students beyond classroom redemption.
The over-supply of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in Ndebele-speaking could be an indictment of the recruitment process that is biased in favour of one tribal grouping. It is not a secret that Zimbabwe recruitment practices are fraught with nepotism, regionalism and tribalism. In teacher training colleges, if a Kalanga becomes the principal then that college turns into a mini Bulilima-Mangwe. The recruitment of staff and students becomes focused on the applicants’ origin.
If for some reason there is no single teacher training college headed by a principal from, say, a Ndau-speaking area, the likelihood of Ndau-speaking candidates being offered places to train as teachers will be very slim.
Recruitment for student teachers should be done fairly and objectively. Schools heads should submit yearly requirement for teachers based on their schools’ demographics. The Education ministry should then use schools’ needs data to project required numbers, specialities and peculiarities.
Recruits to teacher training institutions should have an idea of where they will be deployed after training. This way the intakes of teacher training colleges could be allowed to fluctuate in response to needs. The colleges could continue offering other specialist in-service courses when they are forced to be low on raw recruits.
The ongoing debate in not about tribal intolerance, but is about ensuring children get it right in their formative years. Surely parents at Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe Secondary School would not mind a Spanish expatriate teacher expounding on Pythagoras’ Theorem to Form Two pupils.
These parents will kick a fuss if the same teacher went to Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe Primary School to be in charge of Grade One pupils who are only armed with Korekore linguistic skills that are at nascent level for that matter.
Accepting diversity should not result in unreasonable domination.
l Masola waDabudabu is a social commentator
