'Teacher training numbers to double'

Government will double the number of teachers it is training and the failure by the economy to absorb them at the moment is only temporary, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira told Senate yesterday that the failure by the economy to employ teachers was a temporary setback.

Minister Murwira said this while responding to Bulawayo Metropolitan Senator, Gideon Shoko (MDC Alliance), during the Question and Answer session. Senator Shoko had asked him the rational behind the continued training of teachers when there were no jobs.

"It is true that we train teachers so that they go and further train our children," said Prof Murwira.

"We intend to further increase the number of colleges. It is better to have a certificate and wait for your opportunity than not have it and fail to get a job when the opportunity arises."

Minister Murwira said when the economy improves, it would require a lot of teachers, hence their deliberate decision to continue training them and seeking to redouble them from the current 8 000 per year to 30 000 in the next 10 years. He said they had also reviewed some policies whose effect was to exclude some potential students.

Some of the policies included the requirement of Mathematics by tertiary institutions on programmes that had little to do with the subject.

"Even if one has an 'A' in Mathematics, if he wants to do drama, do not ask for it," said Minister Murwira.

Responding to another question, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said Government would expeditiously put a legal framework that would enable it to constitute Provincial Councils in line with the spirit of devolution.

"One of the work that we have to do urgently is to bring to Parliament the legal framework that gives effect to Provincial Councils," said Minister Ziyambi.

He was responding to a question from Manicaland Senator, Douglas Mwonzora (MDC Alliance), who had asked why Government was taking long to set up Provincial Councils whose members were elected in the just-ended harmonised elections. Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza, said her ministry would prioritise the alignment of the Labour Act with the Constitution.

"The alignment of the Labour Act is one of my priority area," she said. "I am currently in the process of consulting stakeholders that include employers. I will sit down with my staff team. We will look into it within the next 100 days."