Mnangagwa fired Minister for enforcing govt language policy

MEMBER of Parliament for Bubi Constituency in Matabeleland North Simelisizwe Sibanda  has said he was enforcing Government policy when he called for the transfer of an ECD teacher who could not speak the local languages.

Sibanda who is also the Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development said he had rolled out initiatives which include distributing learning materials to vulnerable children and building new schools, which are inspired by concerns by parents about poor pass rates posted by schools in the areas every year.

His efforts are in line with President Mnangagwa's philosophy of leaving no-one and no place behind.

Bubi schools always rank low in the province and in 2021 the schools were the worst performers nationally at all levels.

This is also compounded by deployment of non-local language speakers to teach Early Childhood Development (ECD) which the community feel affects children's education foundation hence the poor pass rates.

On a visit to the local Clonnmore Primary School Sibanda was told about a teacher that was struggling to teach an ECD class because she could not converse in the local language, a situation that had irked parents.

Sibanda encouraged the school head to facilitate the transfer of the female teacher for the beenfit of the ECD learners and his actions were intepreted to be tribally motivated as the teacher rushed to Government education offices in Bulawayo saying she was seeking protection from the deputy minister.

The teacher could not speak any language besides Shona and English.

It is Government policy that ECD to at least Grade 3 learners should be taught by a teacher that speaks and understands their local language. Government has reiterated that teachers should learn three local languages besides their mother tongue. Introduced in 2018, the policy aims to improve teachers' competency in languages spoken in their deployment regions.

According to the new Heritage Based Education 5.0, ECD learners must be taught in their mother tongue, with Government saying the position is binding.

"Head, can you assist me. Kindly transfer this teacher. Yesterday we had the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, he said he wasn't aware that there is a teacher who doesn't understand a local language who teaches the local language, IsiNdebele. We don't want to waste our children's future," said Sibanda.

"Kindly transfer this teacher immediately. Let's do it that way, we want teachers to teach children and understand. If she was teaching Grade 6 we would understand, not ECD," he added.

In a follow-up interview, Sibanda refuted claims that he was promoting xenophobia and said he would never do that as a leader and citizen.

"You may be aware that Bubi has been performing badly in school, so we sat down as a constituency and came up with Life With Dignity Trust to support children's confidence through supplying them with learning materials including books and uniforms. Up to date we have distributed uniforms to not less than 30 schools and we have 50 more to give making more than 500 kids.

"We have put up materials enough for two classrooms to build a secondary school in Mbembeswana. More than 80 percent of schools in Bubi are not registered while I have also started registering schools. All these are efforts to improve pass rate," he said.

Sibanda during engagement with parents and community, one of the issues that have come up was deployment that is contrary to Government policy on language.  He said parents at Clonnmore school complained about teachers who cannot speak local languages.

"Mine was just an issue of Government policy on the issue of deployment of teachers and teachers have choices to apply to their preferred areas and are not deployed from nowhere. My encouragement was from that particular community and 40 ECD souls to have someone able to do what should be done, which is teaching.

"ECDs should be taught in their mother tongue if Government is to achieve what it intends to achieve through Vision 2030. There is no way I can be tribal, that is why I said if she was teaching Grade Six it wouldn't be a problem. I didn't say anything like no Shona speaker is allowed to teach in Matabeleland neither did I make reference to her surname in that regard. There is no way I was going to do that, I don't pursue a tribal agenda because I am citizen of this country and a leader, I cant do that," said Sibanda.

He said he would not comment on misinformation and disinformation being peddled on social media by sections of the society bent on causing disharmony among citizens.

Sibanda said Government had made a stance for teachers to be recruited in their areas because of the issue of language for minors.

Midlands State University is translating science books into local languages which is a sign that Government is committed to making sure local languages are used and respected, explained Sibanda. He said as a leader, it was his duty to represent his people's aspirations and address their concerns.

"For example I have been working hard to make sure communities get boreholes and schools get computers, and I got 60 computers through Postal and Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe for schools. We thank President Mnangagwa because he is the one who came up with this programme. My intervention was based on needs of the community, so I react to what people want solved and we try to address that," he said.

He encouraged public servant workers to strive to learn local languages other than their mother tongue to be able to provide effective service as Government commits to make sure all civil servants are well paid for providing services.