Non-Ndebele speaking teachers, Khaya-Moyo told off

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has said the deployment of teachers is the responsibility of the Civil Service Commission as the debate on the deployment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in Matabeleland hots up.

Last week Senior minister Simon Khaya Moyo told a Zanu PF inter-provincial meeting that he had called Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazuras Dokora to rectify the issue.

However, in an apparent snub on Khaya Moyo, ZBC yesterday quoted a ministry release dismissing the statements that Dokora had been summoned over the issue.

"The employment of teachers is governed by the Civil Service Commission regulations and the deployment of teachers is done in accordance with the same regulations," ZBC quoted the ministry saying.

It said Dokora was currently attending a Global Partnership for Education conference in Belgium.

Khaya Moyo has said he was forced to act on the issue of Ndebele teachers after receiving complaints about a Bulawayo school.

He said the fact children were being taught by teachers who did not understand their mother tongue meant the pass rate would always remain poor.

"I phoned Lazarus Dokora over the issue and he said his ministry will introduce crash programmes for teachers who do not understand local languages," Khaya Moyo said.

"This is a serious matter that we want to address and we will address it.

"We should not have schools where pupils spend the whole day gazing at each other instead of learning because there is no communication."

Zanu PF secretary for education Sikhanyiso Ndlovu last week had said he would conduct his own investigations into the matter.