The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has met with education authorities in a bid to persuade the government to defer the October/November 2008 public examinations. They say exams should be cancelled because strike action by teachers has left pupils unprepared.
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has met with education authorities in a bid to persuade the government to defer the October/November 2008 public examinations. They say exams should be cancelled because strike action by teachers has left pupils unprepared.
Takavafira Zhou, leader of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe PTUZ, said “For the record, there was no meaningful learning and teaching in 2008 and all examination classes are not prepared,”
The militant PTUZ held closed door deliberations with the permanent secretary for Education, Sports and Culture, Stephen Mahere Monday to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe’s education .
There has been hardly any learning this year as teachers spent most of the time on strike while pupils where constantly sent home over school fees.
Teachers went on strike when classes began in January, demanding pay increases and better working conditions. The strike was briefly suspended following a deal with the government but nearly two months ago the teachers embarked on an indefinite strike.
Due to massive inflation teachers have seen their salary shrink to a pittance. PTUZ wants the government to peg teachers salaries in US$ and are demanding take-home salaries of US$1200.
High school pupils were due to take their final examinations at the beginning of October but have not yet been informed whether they will go ahead.
Citing numerous industrial strikes by teachers and violence against teachers during the presidential elections, the union told Mahere and his officials that very little learning took place during the academic year hence the push to have this year’s public examinations deferred or cancelled.
“We have recommended the setting up of a committee to assess the state of the student’s preparedness for 2008 public examinations comprising stakeholders from government, labour and employers with a view to either defer the examinations to an appropriate date as determined by the outcome of the survey or set aside the 2008 academic year and allow students to repeat their current grades in 2009 and freeze all intakes for a new cohort of Grade 1, Form 1 and Form 5,” reads part of a PTUZ document handed to government on Monday.
But Mahere, when contacted only said his ministry was still studying the union’s input. “We had a fruitful meeting but we are still studying their points of view,” he said.
Meawhile, all four of Zimbabwe’s universities have failed to open for the first
semester of the 2008/2009 academic year. This has left students wondering if their education has come to a sudden and permanent stop.
The University of Zimbabwe (UZ), the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Midlands State University (MSU) and Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) have all failed to open their doors, some six weeks after the scheduled resumption of studies.
