Southern region Zimsec markers allege discrimination

By The Standard and Newsday | Mar. 9, 2022 | 2 Min read

Last month, teachers marking the History paper at various centres in the country downed tools in protest over non-payment of allowances.

BY SILAS NKALA TEACHERS marking the 2021 Ordinary Level (“O” Level) and Advanced Level (“A” level) examinations in the southern region have claimed that the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) paid them a quarter of what their counterparts in other regions got in travel and subsistence allowances.

Last month, teachers marking the History paper at various centres in the country downed tools in protest over non-payment of allowances.

“Some Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) centre markers seem to have been paid all their T&S allowances in some centres, but here we have been paid only a quarter of our allowances,” said a concerned marker from Bulawayo.

But Zimsec spokesperson Nicholette Dhlamini said the markers were paid according to venues and the number of scripts they received.

“The teachers are being paid according to subjects, centres and scripts that they are given to mark. They are paid for what they have marked and it is not according to the regions they come from. Allowances are also being paid,” she said.

“Zimsec is paying according to venues, not provinces. The teachers that have not finished marking have not been paid. For instance, teachers that were at Bulawayo Polytechnic have finished marking and were paid in full. Those marking at Harare Polytechnic are yet to finish marking and have not been fully paid. They will be paid once they complete marking,” Dhlamini added.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) Bulawayo chairperson Vusumuzi Mahlangu concurred saying: “It is not a regional issue, but I believe it was about the subjects that the affected teachers were marking. Those marking subjects with a huge number of candidates such as Mathematics, English and Ndebele were paid their dues in full, but those marking subjects with a few candidates are yet to be paid.”