Uproar over non-Ndebele speaking teachers

DEBATE has emerged over the appointment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers to teach the language in primary schools in the Matabeleland region with education officials saying they were now moving towards engaging specialist teachers to address this handicap.
Last week Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in the Metropolitan Province of Bulawayo, Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo, shot down a proposal in the National Assembly that locals should be given preference in employment and education opportunities.
The minister argued that she was not a tribalist hence she would not support such calls.
Moyo is quoted as saying: "First of all, I am not a tribalist. Secondly, I serve Zimbabwe. Thirdly, I will support anyone who has the right documents to occupy a vacancy."
However, various educationists and analysts in the region have criticised Government for letting down the education sector by creating a handicap that could easily be avoided, which goes on to affect the overall pass rate within the schools.
Commenting on the matter, Matabeleland North provincial education director Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni acknowledged that this was a handicap that was affecting the teaching process in the region but said to curb it they were coming up with a facility where schools would be required to engage specialist teachers who then assisted those teachers who did not have Ndebele as their first language.
"I believe this is a broad matter because the teacher factor also has a say in the teaching of the subject. In primary schools the set-up is that one teacher has to teach all these subjects hence you find us having a handicap when a teacher who doesn't have Ndebele is now expected to teach this subject.
"What we are now doing is that we are encouraging these schools to engage specialist teachers who will then come in to assist these handicapped teachers by taking their Ndebele classes. This is a strategy we successfully implemented in Binga where we are now teaching Tonga from Early Childhood Development level. We hope schools will take this cue and also chip in to assist in resolving this clear handicap," said Mrs Mnguni.
She, however, also laid the blame on parents who were now neglecting socialising in vernacular within their homes.
"We can argue that language is dynamic but you find that children are no longer being socialised in an entirely Ndebele manner. That is how you find the infiltration of more of these slang words in our vocabulary.
"It is unfortunate that we do not have an exclusive teacher training institution for the region but it is something that would go a long way in addressing this problem that we have in the region," said the PED.
Dr Samukele Hadebe, who compiled the Ndebele dictionary, said with the manner in which things were going there was a possibility that the language was dying a slow death because the personnel entrusted to administer the language by the Ministry of Primary and
Secondary Education were not proficient in the language.
"When looking at this matter one fact that cannot be ignored is that those who teach Ndebele do not have a basic or even a deeper comprehension of the language mainly because it is not their first language.
"We need more people from the region or who have Ndebele as their first language to come in and teach this subject so that we can preserve it," said Dr Hadebe.
A few months ago, Gwanda Rural District councillors, in examining the low pass rate especially in Grade 7 results, laid the blame on the recruitment of teachers who could not speak local languages. Debating during a full council meeting the councillors argued that effective teaching required teachers to appreciate local languages first.