GOVERNMENT must replace teachers who have not taken up their appointments after the recent mass recruitment for it is clear they are time wasters.
There must be those who were not picked but could have been placed on the reserve list.
Reports that some of the teachers who have been employed recently by the government have not reported at their work stations make sad reading.
The problem appears to be more pronounced in rural areas what with their lack of basic social services.
It is in this vein that we sympathise with the District Commissioner for Chibombo, Mr Lloyd Kayeka over the predicament the district finds itself in.
Mr Kayeka has disclosed that several teachers who were recently deployed in the area have not yet reported at their respective schools.
Mr Kayeka says a staff audit has since commenced to establish the number of teachers who have not reported at their designated work stations.
He said in an interview that most of the complaints about those who have not yet reported are from schools located in the rural parts of the district.
But rather than bemoan the fact that they have failed to take up their appointments, the authorities should move in quickly and replace them since they must have failed to abide by the grace period given.
Although the affected teachers have not given reasons for their failure to report for work, it is obvious that their attitude defeats and derails the government’s programme to ensure that all schools are properly staffed.
It is a fact that schools in rural areas have always fared badly when it comes to staffing levels and this was the more reason why the government decentralised the recruitment of teachers.
The rationale was to ensure that unemployed but qualified teachers apply for positions in their home districts. These were supposed to serve at schools in their districts.
What is even more surprising is how someone, who has been on the streets for years after graduation can refuse to work at a rural-based school.
After all, when one joins the civil service, one of the conditions is that one ought to be prepared to serve in any part of the country.
Moreover, teaching, like nursing and other jobs in the health sector are said to be a calling to serve others and deny oneself in terms of personal comforts.
But what the teachers who have shunned to be deployed in Chibombo have shown is that they are not up to the challenge of making a difference and serve in a rural community.
According to Mr Kayeka, Chibombo has in the past faced shortages of teachers in the rural schools hence Government decided to deploy about 650 teachers which was one of the highest in Central Province.
Government must still strive to ensure that all schools are adequately staffed hence our appeal that those who have failed to report be dismissed and replacements sent.
The children in rural areas deserve to have access to education and must not be denied this chance to progress.
Govt waives VISA fees for more than 10 countries, including UK, USA, Iraq, and South Korea
By GIDEON NYENDWA
GOVERNMENT has waived visa fees for the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Canada, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, the Gulf States (Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) and the European Union.
Minister Home Affairs and Internal Security Jack Mwiimbu said following the presentation of the 2023 budget by the Minister of Finance and National Planning on September 30, 2022, Zambia’s tourism industry and the international travelling public had been anxiously waiting for the pronouncement to take effect.
Mr Mwiimbu said the policy pronouncement to waive the visa requirement could not take effect on October 1, 2022, as announced during the budget address due to some administrative processes that were being finalised.
He said legal framework was supposed to be put in place because policy changes such as visa waivers for selected countries required putting in place a legislative framework to ensure that their implementation was within the confines of the law.
He said the Department of Immigration needed some time to prepare the electronic system configuration for the new visa policy which included re-configuration of the Zambia Immigration Management system (ZIMS) owing to the significant changes in the workflows necessitated by the new visa regime.
Tourism Minister Rodney Sikumba said it had always been the desire of the UPND administration to reduce the bureaucracy for one to get in this country.
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