Back to Index

Why my mother still remains a Zimbabwean teacher
Priscilla Mapfuwa, African News
February 06, 2008

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/15514

Teaching in Zimbabwe has been reduced to merely nothing. Everyday we hear stories about teachers going awol etc. Parents write insulting comments in their children's homework books to the teachers instead of them signing for their children's homework.

We have even stopped to give respect to these men and women who dedicate all their time and effort in helping mould the future of our children. Hopefully one day someone out there will be able to make a difference for a Zimbabwean teacher and be able to restore our country's education system.

My grade 3 teacher asked me what I wanted to become when I grow up and I told her I wanted to be a teacher just like my mother. My teacher then asked each and every one of us to go ask their parents why the chose their professions, I then asked my mother why she became a teacher. She told me that when she was in grade seven the headmaster at her primary school was not just a headmaster but also a father to them. This man made them want to go to school he made them enjoy school and saw reason in education.

Our government today has completely put aside the education ministry. What the teachers are earning today one will have to add salaries of 5 teachers so as to come up with the top up fees mission schools need by end of February so as to sustain the school and children. Are our government and the minister sleeping? Nobody out there can answer me. Come to think of it one of the teachers at a local primary school is going to school with her 3yr old grand son on her back. She can-t afford paying a housemaid neither can she sends him to pre-school. My God what is all this? Does the minister of education bother to even spare a few moments of his time and listen to the plight of the teachers. This woman cannot scarifies 52 grade 1 pupils just for her grandson but instead she chooses to go and teach with her grandson on her back

But under all these circumstances my mother remains a teacher not because she doesn-t have a passport or she can-t be a cross border trader or she owes it to her primary school head, no; but because she wants to be a teacher.

I hope the minister and his ministry will realize that all those teachers who are still going to work are going not because they have no other source of income or means of survival but simply because they love teaching and it is their wish to see the next generation excelling just like what they did. These men and women are the real patriots of Zimbabwean development.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP