News / Education
'Teachers should not be used as polling agents' says Coltart
27 Feb 2013 at 23:22hrs | Views
THE Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, yesterday said teachers should not participate as polling officers in the constitution referendum scheduled for 16 March as that will disturb the learning process.
Teachers constitute the bulk of civil servants and have over the years been used as polling officers during voting.
In an interview, Minister Coltart said although schools would be used as polling centres for the referendum, the involvement of teachers in the process would disrupt the learning process.
The referendum will be held on a Saturday.
"Schools will be used as polling venues but not all of them. As a ministry, we are concerned about the disruption of the learning process and we want to minimise the effects.
"My view is that teachers should not be used as polling agents. This is meant to ensure that the learning process is not disrupted. We held a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) with officials from my ministry where we discussed that issue."
Minister Coltart said his ministry was going to present its request to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in order to have a common understanding on the issue.
He said his ministry was concerned that if teachers were to take part in the plebiscite, a lot of learning time would be lost as they would be required to undergo training well before the actual voting day.
"Our officers are looking into the issue and we feel that if ZEC insists, it would be better to release untrained teachers. We would ask them to look for manpower from other Government departments because we do not want the children to be affected by this," said Minister Coltart.
However, there are reports that some teachers have already been enlisted to be polling officers.
Meanwhile, Copac outreach programmes to raise awareness on the provisions of the draft constitution continue to roll across the country's provinces.
The meetings started on Monday and are set to continue up to next week as the Government seeks to ensure that members of the public familiarise themselves with the document ahead of the vote.
Political parties in the inclusive Government, Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations, have already endorsed the draft and are on a joint crusade urging their supporters to vote "Yes".
Members of the civic society and smaller political parties have also commended the draft document although they expressed reservations on some of the provisions.
Teachers constitute the bulk of civil servants and have over the years been used as polling officers during voting.
In an interview, Minister Coltart said although schools would be used as polling centres for the referendum, the involvement of teachers in the process would disrupt the learning process.
The referendum will be held on a Saturday.
"Schools will be used as polling venues but not all of them. As a ministry, we are concerned about the disruption of the learning process and we want to minimise the effects.
"My view is that teachers should not be used as polling agents. This is meant to ensure that the learning process is not disrupted. We held a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) with officials from my ministry where we discussed that issue."
Minister Coltart said his ministry was going to present its request to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in order to have a common understanding on the issue.
He said his ministry was concerned that if teachers were to take part in the plebiscite, a lot of learning time would be lost as they would be required to undergo training well before the actual voting day.
"Our officers are looking into the issue and we feel that if ZEC insists, it would be better to release untrained teachers. We would ask them to look for manpower from other Government departments because we do not want the children to be affected by this," said Minister Coltart.
However, there are reports that some teachers have already been enlisted to be polling officers.
Meanwhile, Copac outreach programmes to raise awareness on the provisions of the draft constitution continue to roll across the country's provinces.
The meetings started on Monday and are set to continue up to next week as the Government seeks to ensure that members of the public familiarise themselves with the document ahead of the vote.
Political parties in the inclusive Government, Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations, have already endorsed the draft and are on a joint crusade urging their supporters to vote "Yes".
Members of the civic society and smaller political parties have also commended the draft document although they expressed reservations on some of the provisions.
Source - TC
