• Ministry of Education and Teaching Service Commission have failed to clearly recognize Teachers with Primary degrees.
• There is currently a wave of annoyance among teachers in primary schools because Government seems not to care about them.
• A number of teachers are leaving the primary sub- sector to Secondary schools.
National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) says teachers who have upgraded their professional qualifications and have attained Primary Degrees feel neglected by government.
NAQEZ Executive Director Aaron Chansa told Money FM News that the Ministry of Education and Teaching Service Commission have failed to clearly recognize Teachers with Primary degrees, even after advising them to upgrade their professional qualifications.
Mr. Chansa noted that in the recent national teacher recruitment exercise, Government has not included the recruitment of teachers with Primary Degrees and the organization understands that unemployed teachers with such qualifications will be put in Diploma salary scales.
“There is currently a wave of annoyance among teachers in primary schools because Government seems not to care about them, cannot promote them and there seems to be no effort by Government to respond to the genuine concerns from these educators. If not rescinded, this act will be dangerous to primary education,” Mr. Chansa said.
He requested the Ministry of Education to urgently issue an official position on the matter because teachers want to know why Government does not want to recognize genuinely acquired Primary degrees from well -established public and private Universities.
“If the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Service Commission will not address the issue of teachers with Primary degrees, NAQEZ fears more frustrations among majority teachers in the country. Apart from demotivating, the status quo will condemn Zambia to a more shaky educational dimension .And with a poor educational foundation, the Country must forget about having quality education, and about fulfilling critical targets of agenda 2030.”
Mr. Chansa revealed that a number of teachers are leaving the primary sub- sector to Secondary schools because they feel that secondary school teachers are mostly promoted and teaching environments in secondary schools are better than in primary schools.
He added that teachers in Primary Schools want to see the steps which Government has put in place to deliberately motivate them , especially those in rural areas, so that the current Primary – secondary migration of teachers can be halted.
“If the welfare of Primary School teachers will not improve in Zambia, the nation shall continue to witness massive migration of teachers from Primary to secondary schools,” he added.
