NAQEZ BACKS UNPAID TEACHERS’ PROTEST
BY GIDEON NYENDWA
The Teaching Service Commission and the Ministry of Education should take up the matter of teachers who have not been put on payroll after being posted before the issue gets out of hand, the National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) has said.
NAQEZ executive director Aaron Chansa said the step that was taken by the teachers who staged a mourning protest yesterday at the ministry of Education headquarters was justified because those people had been overstretched.
“Their protest was justified, we support their protest,” he said.
He said those teachers were posted after appointment letters were given to them and once they sign form 81 the arrival advice that means they become government employees.
Yesterday teachers staged a protest at the ministry of Education headquarters, wailing and throwing their arms in the air to show desperation, to demand for answers as to why they had not been put on government payroll.
Mr. Chansa said that it was very demotivating that the government had not put them on payroll after being there for some years.
He said the matter should be resolved as quickly as possible because it was denting the image of the government and demotivating teachers.
Mr. Chansa said it was disappointing to see teachers who were supposed to be teaching leave their work to come and fight to be put on salary and this paints a bad image about the ministry of Education.
He said NAQEZ want to hear a word from the minister of Education and the chairperson for the Teaching Service Commission on how many teachers were affected, what transpired and what quick action was being taken to resolve the matter.
Mr Chansa also said that if they were claiming that those teachers received the appointments dubiously they should involve the Anti-Corruption commission to insure that culprits were brought to book.
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