4 May 2009

The Herald, Harare — REPORTS that teachers have resolved not to go to work when schools open on Tuesday in protest over the US$100 allowance they get from Government make sad reading.

Equally disturbing are reports that the teachers are demanding astronomical salaries upwards of US$1 500, an amount that even their counterparts in the region can only dream of, but do not get.

We agree that teachers have a genuine grievance, as the US$100 monthly allowance is not adequate to cover all their monthly requirements like rent, transport, food and other expenses.

But so do all the other civil servants who are also getting the US$100 allowance but have not stopped working and are pressing on fully aware that their selfless efforts will be rewarded once revenue inflows improve.

We all know the state of national coffers after the damage wrought by the decade of illegal economic sanctions. The fiscus is depressed and efforts are being made, on a daily basis, to improve livelihoods.

An improvement in livelihoods will only come if we are all working for national development, not through downing tools.

We urge the teachers' unions not to hold the nation to ransom but to pull together with all other workers so that we help our country out of the woods.

Teachers must not betray the sacrifices made and still being made by parents, many of who are parting with the little they earn to contribute to the allowances teachers are getting on top of their Government allowance.

Teachers must also recognise the efforts being made to improve their conditions of service, like the decision to exempt them from paying school fees for their children.

What this shows is that Government is indeed committed to uplifting the welfare of teachers.

We, however, remind the teachers' unions that the solution to the problems confronting teachers is not a row of figures on a payslip, far from it. It is ensuring that teachers live a decent life.

Teachers, just like other professionals, need to enjoy returns on their effort, they need to own houses, they need to own their own vehicles, they need to send their children to good schools, and they also need to have disposable incomes that they can invest to guarantee their children's future.

For starters, the unions should lobby Government to ensure that teachers are adequately catered for under the National Housing Delivery Programme, as a large propoertion of their earnings seem to be going to rentals.

More so the burden of remunerating the teacher should not be left to the Government alone; and here we hail school development associations for contributing to the well-being of teachers.

It is this trust that teachers must not betray.