VOA
By Gibbs Dube
Washington
30 April 2009
A meeting between Zimbabwean Education Minister David Coltart and officials of the country’s teacher’s unions Thursday yielded a five-point plan to address pay and other grievances, but union leaders declined to take a threatened strike by educators off the table.
Proposals from Coltart included waiving fees for teachers’ children in state-run schools. But it was unclear whether the government would be able to meet a demand for a monthly wage increase to a minimum of US$200 from just US$100 a month currently.
Secretary General Raymond Majongwe of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe told reporter Gibbs Dube of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that another round of negotiations is to be held on Monday, one day before the scheduled start of the next school term.