Zim govt has suspended holiday lessons

The Zimbabwe government has suspended holiday lessons for non-examination classes with immediate effect following the revelation that some teachers are unfairly "extracting" money from parents under the guise of helping pupils.

In an interview last week, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart said his ministry wanted to curb tendencies by some teachers of relaxing during the term while hoping to conduct paid extra holiday lessons.

"We are not against holiday lessons, but we have noticed that some teachers don't do adequate teaching during the term for them to facilitate paid extra holiday lessons. The Government cannot tolerate such tendencies thus the idea that extra lessons must be opened for (exam) writing classes only," said Sen Coltart.

The minister also said extra holiday lessons for writing classes - Grade Seven, Form Four and Six - would be conducted under the inspection of education officials that would monitor unscrupulous teachers taking advantage of the facility to generate money.

Recently, the Government distributed 59 Nissan Hardbody trucks worth US$1,3 million to enable education inspectors to monitor teaching standards in schools.

Each province across the country was allocated at least four vehicles with Bulawayo and Harare receiving two each.

Monitoring of schools had been slowed as most education officers did not have transport to move around the schools.

"Holiday lessons should be driven by the honest motive to assist pupils fully prepare for their examinations. If schools and teachers feel there are certain areas pupils need to catch up on, that's when they should facilitate holiday lessons rather than to initiate them for monetary benefits," Minister Coltart said.

Of late, there have been numerous complaints by parents accusing teachers of masterminding holiday lessons to line their pockets.
In some instances even primary teachers have been fingered for piloting extra lessons for non-exam classes.

In Bulawayo, teachers from schools including Mpopoma, Milton High and St Columbus have been accused of abusing holiday lessons for personal benefits, where they are allegedly charging between US$10 and US$15 per subject a month for O- and A-Level pupils respectively.
Meanwhile, Sen Coltart says his ministry has prepared a five-year strategic plan to be presented to Cabinet for approval. He said the plan is a roadmap that will guide the

Government in the resuscitation of the education sector. "There has been significant improvement within the education sector since the formation of the inclusive Government. Therefore, the main thrust of the plan is to consolidate the achievements we have scored so far as Government intensifies efforts to stabilise the sector," he said