By ANDREW MUKOMA
GOVERNMENT has disclosed that 17, 400 newly recruited teachers out of the 30, 496 teachers have so far been put on the payroll.
Education Minister Douglas Siakalima has said that the remaining teachers who are yet to be put on payroll have not yet reported to schools where they have been posted. He was speaking when he toured Linda Secondary School in Livingstone yesterday.
Mr Siakalima said that everyone will be put on the payroll and will receive their first salaries next month.
He also said the ministry has secured a three months free banking charges with Absa Bank to the teachers who have been put on the payroll.
Mr Siakalima said time has gone where teachers were being transferred not on merit but because they were not liked by their superiors.
He said that transferring teachers to rural areas must be based on merit because such teachers are transferable not as a punishment.
He said the country has come from a difficult period where things were not being done properly.
Mr Siakalima commended Linda Secondary School management for being innovative in the way they are running the school.
Meanwhile, Livingstone District Board Secretary Eiden Kambunga has appealed to the government to consider completing the works at Shungu Namutitima Secondary School whose works have stalled despite being at 80 percent.
Mr Kambunga said that once the school is completed and operational, it will reduce on the challenges of school spaces the district is grappling with due to limited number of schools.
