RadioVOP
April 16,2010

The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) has written a stinging letter to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as Head of Government and President Robert Mugabe as Head of State telling them that they are now fed up with their low salaries, Radio VOP can exclusively reveal.

ZIMTA President Tendai Chikowore said :”We are fed up with our low salaries and we have written a stinging letter to Morgan Tsvangirai and President Mugabe telling them that time is up.

“We need US$502 as a minimum salary in order to survive. Just who do they think we are.”

She said this at the just ended meeting held in Harare where more than 300 delegates from around Zimbabwe attended.

Chikowore said however none of the leaders had responded to the stinging letter so far.
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She said the teachers would consider industrial action to cripple teaching services once again in Zimbabwe like what happened last year.
However last year some teachers went back to service after being given incentives which this year they said they would refuse to take up.

“The argument that there is no money holds no water,” Chikowore told delegates some of whom were very angry. “Our current demand is for US$502. Where is the money from Chiadzwa going.”

However Education, Sport and Culture Minister, David Coltart, told ZIMTA members that government hd no money to pay them the huge salaries as demanded.

Meanwhile teachers unions in Zimbabwe have refused to unite.

“We will not unite with anybody and anybody who wants to join us can do so,” said Chikowore.

Raymond Majongwe, President of the Progressive Teacers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), had said he wanted all the teacher unions to unite.

There are three teacher unions in the country but ZIMTA and PTUZ are the largest and most vocal.

“This is the first time that we must unite foir the sake of progress,” Majongwe said while addressing delegates in an impromptu speech.

The Education International organisation from Europe which funds ZIMTA had said it would stop funding the organisation if Zimbabwe continued to have too many associations.

Coltart in his address to ZIMTA also pointed out that disunity was killing the teaching profession. “You must unite,” he said. “This is for the sake of progress.”

Chronicle
16 April 2010
By Brian Chitemba in Harare

THE Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) is deeply divided over the payment of incentives to teachers by parents with some advocating for the scrapping of the facility while others want the arrangement to stay.

The teachers, meeting at the Zimta 29th annual conference in Harare yesterday, failed to reach an agreement over the incentives, which the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart, said were approved by the Government.

However, the majority of teachers argued that the incentives should be banned because the Government was “relaxing” to pay competitive salaries.

A teacher at Vainona High School in Harare, who refused to be named, said incentives had divided teacher unions in confronting the Government over poor salaries.
He said the Government should pay teachers a living wage of US$502 per month instead of the US$156, which he described as an insult.

“We have had a case at our school where some teachers were receiving incentives against the will of other teachers who were on strike pressing the Government to pay better salaries. However, some of the parents said they wanted to pay the incentives for the benefit of their children’s education,” said the Vainona teacher.

Another teacher said the incentives had created different classes among teachers, with some getting “a lot of money” while others were being given mealie-meal and meat, especially in the rural areas.

He said incentives were causing confusion among teachers who are pushing the Government to review their salaries.

“The employer (Government) is taking advantage of incentives not to increase our salaries. Incentives are retrogressive and must go,” said the teacher.

Teachers from the rural areas strongly felt that incentives were disadvantaging them while enriching those in former Group A schools in urban centres.

They said the incentives should be stopped immediately to allow smooth negotiation of salaries between workers and the Government.

Another teacher said: “If we get incentives as teachers, then what happens to the rest of the civil servants? Can’t you see that we are disadvantaging other workers who are lobbying for a review of salaries?”

Other teachers said the Government had clearly stated that there were no funds to increase their salaries, hence the need to keep the incentives in place as a short-term solution.

“We all know that the Government is broke and if we reject the incentives, then that means we are going to starve with our families. For now, I think, let’s just turn a blind eye and take the incentives until such a time when the Government can increase our salaries from US$156 per month,” said the teacher.

Zimta chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu urged the association members to carry out a research in schools before making a decision that may affect them.
He said a resolution would be announced after wide consultations on whether to ban the incentives paid by parents.

On other resolutions, Zimta said political parties should be engaged in seeking a review of conditions of service and remuneration.

Zimta, which has 97 percent coverage in schools, passed a resolution that the Government should pay competitive salaries as well as improve equipment and textbook availability in schools.

“Women should be represented in positions of power at Zimta. Salaries should be reviewed in line with the Poverty Datum Line. Headmasters of schools should not teach in school,” said the teachers.

The resolutions will be forwarded to the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.

The conference ended yesterday and was held under the theme: “Role of Educators’ Unions in Promoting Political Cohesion: A must for the Reconstruction of Quality Education in Crisis”.

SWRadio Africa
15 April 2010

In response to calls from residents, over the on-going education crisis, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association has invited the Minister of Education, Sports, Art and Culture, David Coltart to address residents. Residents in Bulawayo have passed complaints about the state of the country’s education system. It has seen teachers perpetually on strike, school development committees and parents at loggerheads while schoolchildren, like the proverbial grass when elephants fight, loafing around as if education had become extinct.

Minister Coltart is expected to explain the matter of teachers’ incentives that has been the cause of wrangling between, not only parents and school authorities, but teachers themselves. The minister has previously defended the payment of incentives that are used to motivate teachers as they are underpaid by the government.

However, one wonders what then his response will be after reports of clashes between parents and teachers that have become the order of the day in the city. The minister is also expected to justify or explain the unchanged examination fees that were announced recently. A number of schools failed to register candidates last year because parents were unable to pay the exam fees as they were too high.

More importantly though, Minister Coltart will receive suggestions from residents and stakeholders to help him chart the way forward and solve issues bedeviling the country’s education system.

The minister is set to address residents and other stakeholders on 17 April 2010 at the Large City Hall at 0900hrs. All residents are invited. This is a continuation of the
service providers’ consultative meetings that the association has been holding across the city. Like in other meetings, the purpose of this meeting is to provide a platform
for residents to air their views and concerns.

Financial Gazette
Thursday 15 April 2010
By Clemence Manyukwe, Staff Reporter

A UNITED Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) US$13 million tender for the local printing of 2, 6 million primary school textbooks has sparked controversy with some publishers calling for its suspension, citing irregularities. The tendering process saw Longman Zimbabwe being awarded the tender last Thursday after donors’ availed funds as part of the Education Transition Fund (ETF) launched by government last year that will see 13 million primary school textbooks being printed by year end.

Information obtained by The Financial Gazette indicates that 20 percent of 13 million textbooks — 2,6 million — earmarked for distribution to impoverished local primary schools, would be printed locally with the remainder supplied from outside the country.

Disgruntled publishers this week petitioned the Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, alleging that the tendering process lacked transparency as adjudication results were not made public prior to awarding the contract as was the norm in a public tender.

Yesterday, UNICEF described as unfounded the allegations of irregularities saying the UN agency follows strict international guidelines in procurement, based on competitive tendering.

The UN agency said the process was endorsed by government and donors, adding that it was critical for Zimbabweans to understand that the ETF will bring immense benefits to its children.

In their petition to Senator Coltart, the publishers claimed that the least cost approach was not observed resulting in publishers who were cheaper losing out on the contract.

“It is obvious the award of tender entrenches a monopoly that is going to be harmful to students taking into account the magnitude and the impact of the decision. (a) Only one publisher will remain in the country taking into account that the other two will have no business to sustain themselves for the coming three years, so will eventually close. (b) Only one product will be available to students irrespective of how good or bad it is thereby restricting our children to only one thought and influence. (c) The removal of competition and entrenchment of a monopoly will ensure that there will be no incentive or economic argument to force the remaining publisher to improve or upgrade products going to schools. (d) The tender award will obviously cause the two other publishers to shut down because the primary school section is the breadwinner for all publishers. The closure will result in retrenchments.”

The tender controversy has also sucked in printers. In a two-hour meeting yesterday, printers resolved to pressure Coltart to cancel the tender. The printers said they have been contracted to do the work at below printing cost, in what they suspect is a ploy to force them out so that the contract wo-uld be given to a South African Printer connected to Longman Zi-mbabwe.

In an interview yesterday, Coltart said he had not seen the petition, but added that all queries must be addressed to UNICEF, which handled the process.

The Minister, however, added that UNICEF rules were used in the tender and donors who provided funds had laid down specific requirements.

On the other hand UNICEF spokesperson, Tsitsi Singizi, dismissed charges that the least cost approach was not observed.

“We refute these allegations,” said Singizi. “As UNICEF, our emphasis is of course placed on getting the best value for Zimbabwe’s children. “This means selection of the current supplier was based on price offered, payment terms, demonstrated compliance to specifications, technical capacity, delivery time, proof of printed textbooks and use by schools and utilisation of local capacity. The selection was also conducted in accordance with Ministry of Education guidance on textbook subject and grade quality and from the allowed MoESAC (Education Ministry) list of books,” she said.

She said the UN agency was concerned about local industries, a development that would see its local procurement value for this year standing at an estimated value of between US$10 million and US$15 million.

“Our preoccupation remains to ensure that every Zim-babwean child has access to a full set of textbooks and the required stationary and this pogramme will do that, ensuring that textbooks ratios are brought down to a pupil to text book ratio 1:1,” said the UNICEF spokesperson.

Longman Zimbabwe’s managing director who was identified only as Madondo said she cannot comment on allegations by printers on the below printing cost issue saying she had not attended their meeting.

“I can’t comment because I was not in that meeting. I am a publisher, not a printer. Please direct your questions to the printers.”

Radiovop.com
April 14, 2010

Harare, – The Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, David Coltart, says donors have told him that they will not support the payment of teacher salaries because Zimbabwe is a bottomless pit.

Coltart said : “Donors have told me that this country is a bottomless pit and they will not support anything until the GPA is fully implemented.

“They will not give us a cent even for teachers salaries. They have however said they are willing to give us 13 million text books for primary school children next year. We will only get money to pay teachers in the 2011 National budget.”

Coltart was responding to enquiries from members of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) who are meeting in Harare until Friday this week.

About 300 ZIMTA members are in Harare from all over Zimbabwe.

Raymond Majongwe from the aggressive Progressive Teachers Alliance of Zimbabwe (PTAZ) paid a surprise visit to the packed conference held in Harare.

ZIMTA President Tendai Chikowore told Coltart that teachers were very unhappy and that government was lying to them about salaries.

She said money was disappearing from Chiadzwa and yet it could be used to pay cash strapped teachers countrywide.

“I will look into the matter,” Coltart said in reply. “I know you are very unhappy but there is no money in Zimbabwe right now.”

Zimbabwean teachers are earning about USD 150 a month, which the government calls an allowance. The government says it will only be able to pay a decent
salary to civil servants once its coffers have improved. Most western countries have denied assisting Zimbabwe financially, demanding the full implementation of the GPA and a stop to human rights abuses.

Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, recently admitted that Zimbabwe was on its own as no-one was interested in lending it money. The International financier, International Monetary Fund, said it will resume lending Zimbabwe money once it clears all its debts.

The Zimbabwean
By Staff Reporter
Monday, 12 April 2010

BULAWAYO – The continued criminal persecution of artists illustrates that the country still has a long way to go in dealing with the issue of national healing, David Coltart, the Education, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister has said.

Coltart told The Zimbabwean that the recent arrest of Bulawayo based artist, Owen Maseko and Okay Machisa, the ZimRights director in Harare, for holding exhibitions showcasing the country’s gross human rights violations, was unfortunate at a time when the country was talking of national healing.

“Their arrest illustrates that there are major issues in our country which we need to deal with. It is unfortunate that he was treated in this way because criminal prosecutions will not heal our nation.

“This only goes to show that we have a long way to go in so far as national healing is concerned,” Coltart said in an interview.

Coltart added that only dialogue would deal with the issue of national healing.

Maseko, a resident artist at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo was arrested for putting up a solo exhibition showcasing the Gukurahundi disturbances.
The state alleged that Maseko’s painting were likely to cause hatred or engender feelings of hostility towards or cause contempt or ridicule to the President of insult the President in person or in respect of his office.

ZimRights also planned to have a photo exhibition entitled Reflections.

The purpose of the exhibition was to share photographs of the 2008 election period – including the violence of these elections and the economic hardships of these times – in order to remind Zimbabweans of where we have come from, and to prompt reflection on where we are going as a country.

However, later that day, police descended on the gallery and arrested Machisa and confiscated the pictures.

Zimrights last week said it plans to take the exhibition to rural areas.

The Herald
Opinion
By Monica Cheru-Mpambawashe
12 April 2010

Harare — “EDUCATION for all” has always been one of the war cries of the Government since 1980.

Today, 30 years later, several international bodies including the United Nations agree that Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. The economic meltdown and other problems associated with the sanctions regime over the past few years have unfortunately reversed many achievements in the battle to bring quality education to all.

However, the introduction of the multi-currency system has seen many schools recover as they can now afford to buy textbooks, retain staff and maintain and improve their facilities.

But obscured in this apparent boom, are some children in medium-income suburbs of Harare, like Hatfield and Waterfalls, who are struggling to get an education.

Chipo (not her real name) wakes up at six every morning. She has a plate of porridge before walking to school. On most days this is the only food that she has until she comes back home at two. Lunch then comprises of a few slices of plain bread and a cup of black tea. At school, she is relieved that no one sends her back home to collect money for school fees.

It is just not there.

After her simple lunch, she washes her single uniform and prays that it will not rain so that it can dry before morning. She then has to do her homework before evening, because if there is a power cut, she will not have a light to work by. Supper is often sadza and plain green vegetables. Chipo then goes to sleep in the single room which she shares with her widowed vendor mother, her two unemployed aunts and several cousins of who are also in school.

None of the children have had their fees paid since the beginning of last year.

Chipo is just one of the sizeable numbers of almost destitute children in the middle-income suburb of Hatfield in Harare. From a collation of the figures for the three primary and two secondary schools in the area, of the total enrolment of about 4000 children, almost 600 need assistance with their school fees.

The Government program of Basic Education Assistance Module is helping about 100 and 150 depend on churches and other well-wishers for their education.

Chipo is one of the rest, who limp along, never knowing if they will be able to complete the term while still at school or if they will be forced to drop out. Chipo’s mother, fears for her daughter’s future. “I just cannot get the money to pay for her fees. I am afraid that if she stops going to school she will become a prostitute.” She lamented.

The BEAM pamphlet states that the primary is to “reduce the number of children dropping out of . . . school due to economic hardships.”

The pamphlet also shows that BEAM is supported by Unicef with funding and technical assistance from seven large international organisations including the European Commission and Sida.

But the statistics on the ground show that the programme is overwhelmed and the net is failing to catch a large number of children, especially in the urban areas.
At the unveiling of the Education Transition fund to resuscitate BEAM late last year, the minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Paurina Mpariwa revealed that BEAM requires about US$35 million to cover every applicant.

But in a Press statement a few days later, her deputy, Tracey Mutinhiri, revealed that only US$20 million had been secured for funds for term one 2010.
That US$15million discrepancy is what stands between Chipo and others like her and a certain future.

In March 2009, the minister of Education, Arts, Sports and Culture, Senator David Coltart invited parents and guardians of children in the high densities and rural areas to apply for aid through BEAM.

“They must apply for a means test and we will look into their case,” he stated.

From this statement, it can be inferred that the assumption was that children from low and medium density suburbs were classified as not needing aid.

The minister went on to reveal that the schools are graded into three categories, p1/s1, p2/s2 and p3/s3. The p denotes primary and the s is for secondary.
Former group A and private schools fall into the first and second categories.

These are considered to be less vulnerable than their rural and farm counterparts in the third category.

The distribution of funds reflects this presumed status quo and the urban medium and low densities end up with a relatively smaller piece of the pie.

The BEAM pamphlet also states that a local selection committee chooses from all the applicants as to who will receive aid. The criterion for selection includes “The source of income and health status of the head of household/breadwinner.”

Chipo’s mother was adjudged to be an entrepreneur who at 33 is relatively young. She does not suffer from any chronic illness.

The chairperson of one School Development Committee in the area who declined to be named said that they are struggling to meet their targets as a school because of the poor children in the area.

“We make budgets based on 100 percent payment of levies. Because some of that money does not come through, we are failing to buy enough textbooks for all the children. The parents who have paid become disgruntled and accuse the administration of misappropriating funds,”he complained.

On one hand, the ministry has expressly forbidden schools from sending away pupils who can not afford to pay the fees and levies. On the other hand, BEAM and the other good Samaritans are not covering all the applicants.

The relatively higher fees also mean that the same amount of money from BEAM covers fewer children in these schools than it would cover in the rural area.

“A hundred dollars at a rural school where each child pays $10 per term educates ten children. Here it can only pay for one and a half children,” said one school head.
Tuition fees are set by the state and currently stand at $10 per pupil per term for former group A primary schools, and $20 per child in the secondary schools.
The levies are decided upon by majority vote of those who have children and wards attending the school.

As most people in the area are fairly affluent, the levy figures are fairly high, ranging from US$30 to US$120 dollars per child per term.

“It does not appear to be much to those who are earning good salaries. But I make a profit of less than US$40 a week. From that I must feed six people, pay the rent and pay utilities. There is just nothing left over to pay school fees.” Chipo’s mother put forward her case.

“I think we need to screen intake on an income basis. Those who can not afford to live here must go to the rural areas where they pay less. “I do not see why my child should have no books while those who have not paid a single cent enjoy the benefits of my sweat.

“I am not rich and I sacrifice to pay these fees,” charged a woman who identified herself as Mrs Sibanda whose child is in a primary school in the area.

However, all the schools indicated that this is not a viable solution as they are bound to register children on a first come first served basis without discrimination.

That is how they end up with children who cannot afford to pay the levies that the school development committees will have voted for.

The Greek Orthodox Church opened a private college in January. A church official revealed that of the enrolment figure of 220, 91 pupils are church members and have all their fees paid for through the church. Chipo is one of the 40other pupils at the school who are failing to raise school fees.

The rest of the children pay fees like in any other school, but the church has gone further and is even assisting some pupils who are not members of their congregation. But the figures are diluted by the fact that some of the children are coming from as far afield as Mbare and Chitungwiza. This reduces the number of children in the area who are actually getting help.

Prospect Primary, Hatfield Primary and High schools are all state institutions.

St John’s Retreat was established by the Anglican Church, but the church says they no longer have an involvement in the running of the school.

The expansion of BEAM to take in their plight appears to be the only answer for Chipo and all other children like her; the destitute suffering in the middle of plenty.

The Standard
By Davison Maruziva
11 April 2010

TOPICS for this year’s Cover to Cover Short Story Writing competition were unveiled last week and the contest is expected to run until the end of May 2010. The launch of this year’s topics was held at the new offices of the British Council in Cork Road, near the South African Embassy. The British Council is one of the major partners of The Standard in running the competition. It provides both technical support and prize money for the awards.

The other major partners in the Cover to Cover Short Story Writing Competition are Stanbic Bank, the World Bank, the Culture Fund, World Vision, Nestle, and Meikles Hotel. They were all represented at the launch.

Rajiv Bendre, the Director of the British Council, in welcoming guests to the function spoke of the Council’s commitment to nurturing young talent and its support to Zimbabwe’s education sector.

Senator David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, in declaring his ministry’s support for initiatives such as the Cover to Cover short story competition, spoke of the challenges facing the education sector in Zimbabwe.

The initiative, he said, was helping make more reading books available in schools. In 2008 The Standard published an anthology titled Children Writing Zimbabwe, based on the best stories from entries into the competition. Several thousands of copies of the anthology were given to the Ministry of Education for distribution to schools.

Raphael Khumalo, the Group CEO of Alpha Media Holdings, which publishes The Standard, said he hoped the relative peace being enjoyed would enable school children in provinces such as Mashonaland Central, East and the Midlands to take part in this year’s competition.

The level of political violence and hostility towards privately-owned newspapers especially by Zanu PF militias made it difficult for publications which carried details of the competition to penetrate the provinces. Consequently there was pronounced absence of participation by children in those regions of the country.

Entries will be accepted during April and May, with the cut-off date being May 31 2010. Judges will process and assess the entries during June and July, with the awards function likely to be held during August/ September school holidays.

Entries will also be acceptable through our countrywide agents.

The Cover to Cover Short Story Writing Competition has been one of the most exciting initiatives we have witnessed in recent years.

It proved several things: that there is an enormous interest among young people to write and tell us about what they think; that there are good people and organisations, such as the partners, who see value in the initiative; and thirdly it proved that even during Zimbabwe’s darkest moments, it was possible to spark the creative imagination of young people.

Since the launch of the competition, four years ago the competition has seen the numbers of participating students rising and the quality of the submissions quite startling.

The following are the topics discussed and the suggested age groups:

Grade VI – VII

Write a story based on this topic…
l It happened in the school garden;
l The funniest sports day at my school; and
l The earthquake.

Form I & II

Write a story based on …
l “I wish I had never been involved in the first place…” ;
l “A disastrous match…” ; and
l “… The forest fire took a turn for the worst…”

Form III & IV

Write a story based on …
l “The community can still not get over the discovery…” ;
l “The audience screamed for more…”; and
l “I thought my life had just ended…”

Form V & VI

Write a story based on the following:
l “…Then everything ended so abruptly…”;
l The US dollar…;
l Our representative…; and
A cure has been discovered….