By Isaac Zulu
Educationist Faustina Sinyangwe says the UPND administration should be commended for recruiting such a big number of teachers.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Sinyangwe expressed optimism that all the recruited members of staff in the Ministry of Education would be paid, stressing that they are already appearing on the government payroll.
“I would like first commend the UPND government for recruiting such a big number of teachers at a go. Being an educationist, a person who worked in the Ministry of Education for many years and travelled across Zambia; I feel that the situation in public schools is not good. They need to recruit more teachers, especially in rural areas,” Sinyangwe said. “And my view on those teachers that have been recruited but have not yet received their first salaries is that they are on the government payroll and will be paid, no matter what. I know the challenge could be with the processing of payment documents at the Ministry of Education, which I know they can easily address. I have my nephew who was recently recruited, but could not get his first salary because his salary was sent in a wrong account. So, there are things like that. But, knowing how government operates, I know they will be paid. Government has recruited them and, therefore, the same government should run, up their game and address this issue.”
The former Matero member of parliament however feels that the recruitment should have been handled in a phased approach.
She observed that the UPND administration introduced the free education policy without taking into consideration the prevailing challenges in public schools that range from inadequate infrastructure, low staffing levels, inadequate desks as well as learning and teaching materials.
She said it is for this reason that the UPND government should have started addressing the aforementioned challenges before rolling out the implementation of the free education policy in public schools.
Sinyangwe explained that education is premised on three pillars, namely; access, equality and quality, saying the prevailing situation in public schools does not guarantee quality education.
“For me, I am not very happy with the way this government is implementing the free education policy that have introduced. They just said they are introducing free education in government schools and suddenly everybody has taken their children to school, which has led to overcrowding in classrooms such that one teacher is now made to attend to 100 to 120 pupils. You find that teachers are overwhelmed and pupils do not have desks. At Munali Secondary School pupils are going to school at 6’Oclock just to ensure that they secure a chair and a desk during the time they will spend in class. There is no way a teacher can pay personal attention to a pupil in such an environment,” said Sinyangwe. “I think that they should have embarked on the implementation of this free education policy by, other than recruiting teachers, build more schools, buy more teaching and learning materials so that we do not compromise on the provision of quality education. Education is premised on three pillars – and that is access, equity and quality. But as the way things stand, we they are compromising on quality education. It might take five to six years for this country to start regretting. So I strongly feel that they should have implemented the free education in a phased manner, pilot it before rolling it out to all Provinces.”
