The Teaching Service Commission in today’s daily mail is quoted as having stated that trained teachers who are above 45 years are not eligible for consideration in the ongoing teacher recruitment. As ZANEC it is our view that this decision, although legally binding, is unfair because there has been no mass teacher recruitment in the country since the year 2012. Therefore, the number of teachers being recruited annually has been reducing over the years, with the last recruitment exercise having employed only about 2000 teachers based on their year of completion. This means that there are some teachers that were disqualified in previous years for having completed their tertiary education late and the same teachers are now being disqualified for being above the recruitment age.
Moreover, the government has been encouraging adult literacy and education programmes in the country. In our view, the discrimination against those who are above 45 years has the potential to discourage those who are currently enrolled in adult literacy classes. Some of the teachers who have been disqualified are individuals that once belonged to the adult literacy classes. We therefore recommend that the government through the Ministry of Education rescinds this decision and perhaps considers recruiting such teachers on contract basis.
For/ZANEC
George Hamusunga
Executive Director
Find Us on Social Media
