The Sunday News
THE support for the education sector is crucial to the development of the country and reports that the Government has secured an additional $2 million for the Teacher Capacity Development programme is good news to the teaching fraternity and Zimbabweans in general.
An initial $3 million was made available for the programme at its launch by President Mugabe in July. The Government injected $600 000 while $2,4 million was donated by Unicef.
In today’s edition we carry a story where the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora, is quoted as saying the Government has secured the additional $2 million for the Teacher Capacity Development programme, to put to $5 million the total amount of money now available to develop the capacity of teachers. Dr Dokora said the money would be used to fund scholarships for teachers who intend to further their education with selected local universities.
The universities that have been partnered by the Government for the programme include University of Zimbabwe, Great Zimbabwe University, Midlands State University and the Zimbabwe Open University.
“The programme is aimed at developing teachers’ capacity. If one has a diploma we would want them to upgrade to a first degree, and if they have a degree to upgrade to a Masters degree. Those who have no teaching qualifications but hold degrees and are in the system, also have the opportunity to convert their respective qualifications to suit where they are employed.
“This programme is part of our efforts to find solutions to the problems that we are facing, and we are quite optimistic that this will go a long way in improving the quality of our education delivery,” said Dr Dokora.
The minister said teachers, who want to take part in the programme, will do so on a voluntary basis and those selected for the programme will have their tuition covered by the Government for the duration of their study and the money would not be deducted from their salaries, as they would be bonded and expected to work for the Government for a specific period.
It is against this background that we applaud the Government for coming up with such a noble programme to develop the country’s human resource base. By coming up with this programme the Government is showing its unquestioned commitment to the country’s education system with the seriousness that it deserves. The move is also an indication that it is keen to keep the standard of our education high. Remember Zimbabwe’s education is the envy of everyone in the world.
The Government is also sending a message to all and sundry that there is a need for professionals to keep on upgrading themselves, so this is a sign post not only for teachers but other professionals as well to improve themselves academically. The time for certificate and diploma holders is fast vanishing and soon holders of first degrees would not be viewed as being educated enough.
We, therefore, urge the teachers to grab this opportunity with both hands so that they improve themselves academically and also the quality of work they deliver in classrooms. A lot is changing in the world of education what with the coming in of the ICTs and other innovative programmes. It should also not be lost in teachers that as the world keeps on changing, schools, as one author once said, are the most vital social institutions in any advanced society, so there is a need to have in our schools modern teachers who are not stuck in the past.
We hope teachers’ unions will realise that Government is very much concerned with their welfare as they have been clamouring for the introduction of non-monetary benefits for their members and we believe this programme is one of them.
The programme is also expected to come with long-term benefits for the nation such as the improvement of the pass rate at our schools during public examination periods. We also believe that the education of an individual has the possibility of making others better off, in this case it is children who would be immediate beneficiaries.
A more educated society translates to high rates of innovation, higher overall productivity through the coming in of new and better production methods in some sectors of the economy.
