By Mubanga Mubanga
The Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ) has clarified that the list of alleged unqualified teachers circulating has nothing to do with them being underqualified, but non-compliance with regard to registration with the council.
And TCZ says next year, it will be strict in ensuring that teachers are compliant with registration and will prosecute anyone found wanting.
The council also said it will introduce licentiate exams so that all graduate teachers from colleges and universities locally or abroad are examined.
Speaking during a press briefing yesterday, TCZ registrar Dr. Ebby Mubanga explained that the council sent a list from its Kasama regional office to the headmasters in various schools in Luapula and Northern Provinces to check the levels of compliance among teachers in relation to registration with TCZ and the list which was circulating contained teachers who were not compliant to TCZ and had nothing to do with recruitment of teachers by the UPND government.
“I wish to take advantage of the presence of the media today, to clarify what happened yesterday in Luapula. Where l think… some information was received from our regional office in Kasama. Where we were asking for head teachers to confirm the presence of certain teachers, especially non-compliant teachers that we have in our possession. A list was sent in from our Kasama regional office so that we could have confirmation from various schools. And I think there was some misunderstanding in one of the districts in Luapula province. And this is the clarification we would want to make to say: yes that list came from the Teaching Council of Zambia, through our Northern regional office and the purpose of that list was just to help verify, so that we understand the compliance of those teachers and also the presence of teachers. And it has nothing to do with recruitment of any kind, that list has everything to do with teacher registration and teacher compliance under the Teaching council of Zambia,” Dr. Mubanga said
He also said all teachers are expected to comply with the TCZ registration and that starting next year, the council will be very strict, because it has spoken enough regarding being compliant.
“Come 2024 l must emphasize that all those non-compliant teachers shall be taken on. I know we have made this pronouncement before, but I think we have spoken enough. We expect that all teachers are by now both registered and licensed by the Teaching Council of Zambia,” Mubanga warned. “So this is why this call is coming, so that head teachers should ensure that all teachers under their custody, under their charge are both registered and licensed by the Teaching Council of Zambia. Come January 2024, we will be vigorous about non-compliance and we shall prosecute non-compliant teachers in our schools. Like l said, it is a matter of the law. We are merely implementing the law.”
Meanwhile, the registrar said the TCZ intends to introduce licentiate exams, even though there is currently no law which requires them to do so.
He said the council will lobby stakeholders to come up with the law just the same way it is with other professions.
“Meaning when graduates leave colleges or universities, whether within the country or outside the country, they should be subjected to a professional exam. So that we see whether the skills, knowledge, competences, the attitudes are present which makes a teacher. And l think we are not yet there, l think this is what we are proposing,” Dr Mubanga said. “We have seen it happen with other professions. We want to take that route. But to do so, we need a law which we don’t have in place. But the thought is on the table, that way, it will really tell us to say… we shall be screening when they come from various training institutions who go into the teaching profession.”
Dr Mubanga said it is part of regulation but that will come from stakeholders, because TCZ is a stakeholder driven institution.
