By Grace Udofia
The Amalgamated Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ATUZ) has decried the 50 percent cut of monthly salaries for teachers due to inflation and the rise in the cost of living in the country.
This is comes a day after the world celebrated teachers around the globe.
In a statement by the Union, it lamented that the 50 percent cut has left the majority of teachers with no choice than to live in “sub-human conditions”.
They also raised concerns over the reluctance of the government in the provision of good and quality education and also failure by the state to meet the needs of teachers and address their grievances.
The statement reads, “Teacher’s salaries have been eroded to less than 50% of the Total Consumption Poverty line (TCPL) due to inflation and the rise in the cost of living and some of the demands by teachers are welfare issues like housing which has proven to be a great challenge especially for those stationed in rural areas who stay in sub-human conditions and are often exposed to risk due to the conditions they will be living under.
“As a union, we are worried that the government has consistently proven that it’s not worried about the quality of education in the country but instead expropriates its role to teachers who are inadequately equipped.
“The union went further and strongly lobbied the government to structurally support remote learning through methods such as the USSD mode of learning that has proven to be effective in other jurisdictions.
“The various methods of remote-learning that the union advocated for opened up new possibilities of in cooperating new technologies to the manner in which teachers execute their duties”.
