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Majongwe calls on Zimbabwe civic & political leaders to "walk the talk"
Violet Gonda, SW Radio Africa
April 11, 2006

A showdown is looming between teachers and the government after a memo was sent to schools saying that starting next month school children will be assessing the teaching methods of their teachers.

A fuming Raymond Majongwe from the main teaching union, the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), said a new circular titled "Termly teacher rating by pupils" was distributed to all provinces to tighten the screws on the already suffering teaching population. Majongwe said this time the Ministry of Education has gone too far. He said; "It is nothing but madness. Teachers will be assessed by their pupils in areas like punctuality, the standard of dress, attendance, whether they are being given adequate work, whether they are prepared for lessons, whether they are being given homework, whether they know the subject or not, whether teachers are able to explain new concept, whether they are providing a stimulating learning environment." It's feared that more teachers, who are already smarting from poor salaries and politically motivated factors, will resign.

It's reported that some of the issues that pupils from both primary and secondary schools would be assessing their teachers on will include questions like, does the teacher teach any politics in class? Does the teacher talk about politics?

The outspoken leader said the teachers are again and again being subjected to torture; "This is violence against teachers and it's unfortunate really because we would have expected the same government to say, let's get our citizens and assess our ministers and I am sure the whole ministry of education would lose their jobs."

This latest edict about teachers will ultimately create a culture where students - who have no training to assess their superiors - will be reporting about what a teacher does or does not do. The PTUZ warned it will not allow this to happen and will take the government to court.

This kind of system was made famous by Chairman Mao and Adolph Hitler who both used children to report any deviance from official policy. Majongwe said there is no law in Zimbabwe that allows this. He said; "Statutory 1 (of the education act) of 2000 does not allow for such things to happen. These are things founded on threats and intimidation."

Majongwe believes whatever the government may try to do it won't work because it does not have the capacity. It does not even have the money to print the forms to be distributed to all the schools.

He said bottom-line, teachers need money; "If they are well remunerated and there are good conditions of service, the results will be positive."

If the government goes ahead with this plan it's also feared that this will simply bring animosity between teachers and their pupils and ultimately it is the children who will suffer.

Majongwe warned that teachers will adopt a position that will liberate them from what he termed, "This rank madness that is gripping the education ministry."

He said the bottom-line has to be made very clear; "Citizens of this country must decide. As long as they keep quiet then they deserve the leadership they have if they just sit down and just cry and not do anything with their feet."

The PTUZ General Secretary also called on the civic and political leaders to physically lead from the front. " We have gone beyond talking. we have been talking about leadership and there is no leadership. We have been talking about change. The change doesn't come. People must start to walk the talk!"

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