CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) Binga South legislator Fanuel Cumanzala says he is dismayed that government continues to deploy in Binga teachers who cannot speak Tonga, yet qualified Tonga-speaking teachers are available.
Cumanzala also raised the issue in the National Assembly challenging the Primary and Secondary Education minister Torerai Moyo to explain government policy regarding the deployment of Early Childhood Development teachers to Binga district.
“There are infants who are being taught by teachers who cannot converse in Tonga, while there are qualified Tonga-speaking teachers who are still awaiting recruitment and are on the waiting list,” he charged.
“My question is, are there any specific guidelines regarding this process because I have evidence that at the time of writing this question, Harare was still deploying some teachers to Binga?
“I interviewed them and they said they were from Harare. Regarding the teachers, I have a database of local teachers. I attached the database to the question which I sent through the Journals Office so that the ministry would appreciate that I was not just raising this question.
“I have evidence that this was still the case. Having said that I would like to appreciate that there has been some movement on the database. About three-quarters of the people on the database have now been employed. This is a significant improvement.”
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In response, Moyo told Parliament that government policy was to deploy teachers who are familiar with the language spoken in a particular area.
He said Binga was one of the first districts to be considered for decentralised deployment, meaning that teachers from the area are to be considered first and made to sign four-year contracts which compel them not to transfer within that period.
He also appreciated the fact that the MP now recognises that as a ministry, they were working tirelessly to ensure that they decentralise the recruitment exercise.