Central province DEBS ordered to monitor opening schools

Central province DEBS ordered to monitor opening schools

Kabwe, May 7, ZANIS ———- Central province Provincial Education Officer Enita Hamatumbika has urged District Education Board Secretaries (DEBS) to ensure all government schools open next week and teaching should start immediately.

Ms Hamatumbika said schools should open on schedule to avoid loss of learning time which is attributed to non-availability of teachers in schools at the time of opening.

She said this today when she officially opened a one day Basic education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ) Central province quadrennial conference held at V.K. Motel in Kabwe.

Ms Hamatumbika said for a change all District Standards Officers in the province will next week be in one district to monitor how schools will start the term before they move to another district.

She also commended BETUZ for ensuring that most of its members benefited from its empowerment programs such as housing and car loans which have seen most teachers building houses and owning cars.

She said this has spilled to teachers belonging to other unions within the teaching fraternity adding that as a province her officer is happy with the way the union was conducting itself.

“You are not confrontational in the way you handle issues and this is the way things should be,” she said.

Ms Hamatumbika also commended BETUZ for holding its conference during holidays to avoid disturbing school programs.

And BETUZ General Secretary Jeffrey Simuntala urged government to mitigate challenges teachers were facing in schools that include lack of adequate teaching materials and transport.

Mr Simuntala also urged provincial union leadership to have good working relationship with DEBS as they try to help improve teacher’s conditions of service.

On the recent increase of fuel, Mr Simuntala was concerned that the move by government to increase fuel will affect the living condition of government workers especially teachers.

He said the increase will affect even the newly won increments of salaries and conditions of service for teachers.

Meanwhile, Central province BETUZ Director Elias Ntimpa said the union was concerned with the delayed confirmation of teachers most of whom had worked for more than six months and are still waiting to be confirmed.