• 90 percent of public service teachers are in debt.
• The Campaign will help teachers manage their Financial Challenges.
• It will commence towards the end of this month and will go on for 2 years.
National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) says the newly announced National Campaign against heavy indebtedness amongst Teachers will help teachers manage their Financial Challenges.
Speaking during the launch of the Campaign in Lusaka today, NAQEZ Executive Director Aaron Chansa said the Crusade will commence towards the end of this month and will go on for 2 years.
Mr. Chansa stressed the need to empower teachers with financial literacy skills in order for them to borrow economically and make better and beneficial financial decisions.
“Today, most teachers are resorting to borrowing as a means of survival because of owing too much, they cannot make economic ends meet but become unable to concentrate on teaching, always looking for ways away from the classroom to cover for their insignificant net pays,” Mr. Chansa said.
He disclosed that out of the 15, 000 teachers in Government schools, 90 percent of them are in debt because they owe banks, financial institutions and individual money lenders a lot of money.
“We must all get worried because teachers are the engines that drive the education system, whatever affects this engine vandalizes the quality of education in the country and no country can develop with poor quality of education,” he added.
Mr Chansa further said the solution to curb heavy indebtedness amongst Zambian Teachers is by empowering them with financial literacy skills as financial literacy among teachers is terribly low.
“Once we equip teachers with financial literacy skills, we strongly believe that they will borrow economically and make better and beneficial financial decisions, they will effectively manage money and debt, will greatly be equipped to reach their financial goals, will reduce expenses through superior planning and regulation and will have less financial stress and anxiety,” he said.
Mr. Chansa added that due to debt crisis that teachers find themselves in, some of them resort to committing suicide.
