Poor remuneration, lack of job satisfaction, and a generally bad economic situation have seen at least 15,000, or 11%, of government teachers resigning every year, the president of the Progressive Teachers’ Union (PTUZ), Takavafira Zhou, has said.

“The brain drain to the country is costly and astounding. The education sector is in a crisis,” said Zhou in an interview this week.

Zhou said politicisation of the profession through cult unions like Teachers 4ED, ZIPIT, and Zimbabwe Teachers for Remuneration is frustrating teachers and causing them to leave the system.

He added that there is a total deficit of 50 000 teachers in the schools created over the years, mainly due to failure to replace those leaving. Zimbabwe’s education system has a full staff complement of 135,000 teachers, for which the alleged shortfall is 37.03%.

However, Zhou said government-backed renegade groups like ZIPIT, Teachers 4ED, and Zimbabwe Teachers for Remuneration have sought to weaken genuine unionism, allegedly paying SSB staff to manipulate union records, but said such tactics will not silence the collective voice of teachers.

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education spokesperson Taungana Ndoro confirmed the resignations but described 15 000 teachers per year as a preposterous exaggeration. He said in 2023, for example, there were 5 000 teachers who left the Ministry. He, however, added that the figure does not include teachers who leave without properly resigning or following procedure.

“The alleged shortfall of 50 000 teachers is a Disney fiction. In 2023 we had 5,217 teachers leaving, but we replaced that with 8,500,” said Ndoro.

He argued that the ministry is working hard to ensure that all teachers’ grievances are addressed, and this is done through proper structures. He said the Second Republic had increased the education budget by 137%, although it is well known that all schools are now being run through the Better School Programme Zimbabwe, a facility directly funded by parents because the ministry is broke.

Most of the teachers leaving the ministry are going into the private sector.

Zhou cited the government’s unilateral slashing of teachers’ salaries from US$540 to below US$300 as the key source of teachers’ dissatisfaction with the working environment in the country. He described the salary as a slave wage.

Amalgamated Rural Teachers of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) Obert Masaraure said previously 500 teachers were leaving the ministry monthly, but the figure has since risen to 1,200 per month due to opportunities arising in the Middle East.

“Ndoro is saying that because his children and those of his bosses in the ministry are all in private schools. The ratio he is giving is that of private schools; in public schools the ratio is 1:50 even where there is hot sitting,” said Masaraure.

Masaraure went on to say that teachers are now treated with ridicule and are now living from hand to mouth; that is, most of them are living in the ungrateful government sector.

Zhou added that: “Government does not care about the welfare of teachers; in fact, teachers have come to realise that they are not valued at all.

“We have submitted petitions and sought engagements with every relevant authority, including the Office of the President, but there is no response or action taken. A job evaluation exercise has worsened conditions for many educators, prioritising administrative models like the Paterson system over qualifications and experience,” said Zhou.

The government also makes a lot of promises to improve teachers’ lives, including the introduction of housing schemes (i.e., the Gwindingi Teachers’ Housing Project), but these have collapsed due to lack of accountability. Housing allowances that were promised did not materialise.

“Restrictive leave policies, unpaid allowances, and a Teaching Professional Council (TPC) that has no autonomy have deepened teacher dissatisfaction. Corruption is creeping into the profession as a survival strategy,” said Zhou.

“We strongly object to the wispy imaginations that Zimbabwe is short of 50,000 teachers. It’s preposterous.

“Our verified data shows annual departures are significantly lower than the figures cited: 2023 Attrition: 5,217 (3.8% of workforce), and of that, resignations were 2,109, retirements 2,866, and others 242. Those teachers were replaced by 8,500 new teachers in 2023 alone. Please note: “Desertion” is not a recognised employment category. Most departures follow due process.

“The contributing factors of most departures from our exit interviews indicate varied motivations, including family relocation (42%), health or personal reasons (31%), career change (18%), and remuneration concerns (9%). We salute our diligent teachers while steadily improving systems through evidence-based reforms,” said Ndoro. Mirror