GOVERNMENT says there is a significant shortage of teachers in the country’s remote schools.
Secretary in the Primary and Secondary Education ministry Tumisang Thabela revealed this during a recent interview with Southern Eye in Bulawayo.
She said such places as Matabeleland North and Mashonaland West were finding it hard to retain teachers because of the unfavourable environment.
The ministry continues to engage the Public Services Commission for more teachers, she said.
“We have just finished the recruitment of 4 000 teachers and are waiting for the authorisation of another 1 000 to complete the 5 000 number of teachers we were given. Places like Matabeleland North, Mashonaland West and quite a number of rural remote areas find it hard to keep teachers because of the hard kind of circumstances they are in. We really have a substantial shortfall of teachers,’’ said Thabela.
She said the shortage was estimated at between 15 000 to 20 000.
Earlier Thabela told participants at a three-day workshop in Bulawayo that the Education Sector Strategic Plan was by nature a national policy instrument that provides a long-term vision for the education system and outlines a coherent set of actionable strategies to reach its objectives as well as overcome difficulties encountered.
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