Govt moves to penalise rural teachers over 0% pass rates

A government plan to penalise teachers in Bulilima district, Matabeleland South, over zero pass rates recorded in the past five years has sparked outrage among legislators and teachers' unions, who accuse the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education of scapegoating educators for deep-rooted systemic failures.

Gwanda North legislator Desire Nkala condemned the move as "hypocritical," saying it ignored the crippling conditions in rural schools.

"Can we punish teachers when students sit on floors, science is taught without labs and some schools don't even have roofs?" Nkala asked.

He accused authorities of practising "educational apartheid," with urban schools enjoying resources while rural learners are left behind.

"The most painful thing is that now teachers are being attacked, but the government has created segregation within the education sector… Rural areas lack even basic furniture for students. The government must address the shortage of resources first," he said.

Nkayi South MP Jabulani Hadebe painted a grim picture of rural educators' daily struggles.

"Teachers walk kilometres for water, handle classes of 140 students and sleep in huts - yet the ministry calls them failures? The real failure is a system that abandons its children," Hadebe said.

He noted that the Basic Education Assistance Module, meant to aid disadvantaged pupils, had left many schools without chalk, desks or other essentials, while poor salaries and conditions had driven thousands of trained teachers away, leaving unqualified staff to teach science and technology subjects.

"Most subjects being failed in rural schools are sciences, because we lack the necessary equipment. The ministry should be tackling the resource crisis first," Hadebe added.

Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure labelled the charges "a cruel joke."

"The teachers in rural areas cannot be accused of poor pass rates when the real problem is structural. Some are teaching up to 140 learners without classrooms, with lessons conducted under trees," he said. "You can't blame a doctor for deaths when you've starved the hospital of medicine."

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general Raymond Majongwe said the ministry's approach was punitive and misguided.

"Why punish struggling schools instead of rewarding those that succeed? If the ministry won't fix roofs, pay teachers or send textbooks, it has no right to point fingers," he said.

With crumbling infrastructure, severe teacher shortages and chronic underfunding, Zimbabwe's rural education system continues to teeter on the brink - and critics warn that targeting teachers will only deepen the crisis.