World Teachers’ Day Statement
“Valuing teachers’ voices: towards a new social contract for education.”
As we celebrate Teachers this month, we call on the Government of Zimbabwe to value the voice of teachers, to increase investment in the teaching profession and in quality public education.
Celebrating Teachers presents us with an opportunity to participate in the transformation and in strengthening education. In ZIMTA we believe that Teachers deserve better working conditions. We know that they deserve and are due for better salaries and we are calling for an elevation of their status as given in the 59 United Nations recommendations on the High-level Panel on the Teaching Profession which were pronounced during the United Nations Transforming Education Summit, (TES) held in September 2022.
This theme, “Valuing teacher voices: towards a new social contract for education,” highlights to us a pressing need to engage educators through social dialogue, with a view to addressing the challenges we face in the profession, but most importantly, it allows us to present the expertise and knowledge that we bring to education.
Overworking Teachers, Underpaying Teachers and Undervaluing Teachers, has resulted in demotivation and underperformance of educators. In its worst form this has resulted in a shortage of qualified teacher in schools, and this derails the gains made so far under the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal, SDG4. Worldwide, teacher shortage is over 44 million teachers and this alone is putting access to education for all at risk.
Every Zimbabwean child deserves to be taught by a qualified Teacher; therefore, it is against this Right and background that we call on our government to increase its pace in employing more qualified teachers in schools in order to cover the existing teacher deficit in our public schools.
This Teachers’ Day, October 2024, we want to highlight the significance of integrating educators’ voices into the nation’s education policies. We are calling on the implementation of an environment that enables and facilitates the professional development of Teachers.
Whilst it is well-known and acknowledged by all that Teachers are the heart of public education, the investment in education and teachers has been lagging behind. On this day, we members of this Teaching Profession, call on our government to increase the funding to public education. We call for a mobilisation of resources in education that bring significant resources for improving education.
As the nation moves towards the presentation of the 2025 National Budget allocations during this month of October 2024, we are calling on the Finance and Economic Development Ministry to ensure that the Education sector is allocated the mandatory minimum of 20 percent of the national cake. This is not only a way of fulfilling the international benchmarks on education financing, but this is one way of moving towards a significant commitment to investing into the future, while making access to quality public education a reality for all citizens.
On one hand we are calling for a more robust social dialogue with educators and on the other hand we want our government to prioritize increasing funding for education.
When Government increases funding to education in public schools, the Nation invests into the future, Zimbabwe will fulfil in Constitutional obligations of ensuring that every Zimbabwean has access to free primary and basic education, as a Right.
This World Teachers’ Month, we call on the Government to:
#GoPublic!
#FundEducation
HAPPY TEACHERS DAY TO ALL!!
THANK A TEACHER TODAY! THANK A TEACHER #NOW
