Our teachers deserve support and recognition
During the campaign you have no doubt heard me talk time and time again about the importance of education, and how spending on education is the best investment we can make as a nation.
Our teachers play a crucial role in the development of the nation. They have a large responsibility on their shoulders to educate and inspire the next generation of Zambian businessmen and women, farmers, workers, entrepreneurs and politicians. Yet their noble services have been largely neglected and government support for them has been mainly absent. This is unacceptable.
If we want to improve the education we provide our children with then we must get behind our teachers and empower them. They must feel supported by government through training initiatives and regular consultation on matters of education policy, and they must feel motivated by the remuneration of offer. We need to offer them better opportunities for career development.
We must also make sure that they have the right facilities available to them. The student teacher ratio needs to be brought under control, as does the teacher classroom ratio. Most our schools still do not have laboratory or library facilities.
We are conscious of the fact that our teachers are one of the groups to whom the PF made a lot of promises when they were campaigning for office, promises of increasing rural hardship allowances, provision of new housing and government guaranteed mortgages or loans. On nearly every point they have been let down. Not only have promises remained undelivered, but in some cases the government has also failed to meet its existing obligations to teachers, including on the payment of retirement benefits. Fresh promises this week of new houses for teachers can have little credibility when even the existing stock in not being properly serviced.
Any candidate elected in January 2015 will only have a short time until the next election in 2016 so our pledge to teachers is simple: we will respect you, we will consult you so as to understand how government can better support you, and we will invest in education properly. We know that this means investing properly in our teachers.
Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President
Zambia is truly moving forward with HH. I can’t wait for 29Jan. Viva UPND
Where others are promising,PF is already delivering……”if it ain’t broken,don’t fix it”. Vote PF and EL.
I agree with HH. I hope i won’t read about the same statement by Edgar Lungu after this. What a parrot that little drunkard is!
Zambia is truly moving forward with HH. I can’t wait for 20 Jan. Haters start packing your bags, kuya bebele. Viva UPND
I am one of the teachers, though at a very high level. I have received recognition from PF with an increment of over 200%. I do not need to be deceived by HH. He has never been in government before and has no idea of what is in the government resource envelope. That is why he is promising more than Father Christmas!
Ba HH stop lying Teachers are already motivated by PF they are now highly paid than teachers in private schools. what is remaining is for the teachers to perform better than their counterparts in private schools. The conditions being enjoyed by certificate holders are too high meanwhile the end product/pupil is of no quality.
@pachifitah you are lying and I think you are not even a teacher. What do you mean that teachers are already motivated by pf because ‘am a teacher my self? This your desperation to lie is exposing you pathetic failures (pf). Mwandini UPND don’t worry about pf’s schemes of mob influence. PFis gone come 20 January.
EL ad RB went to solicit for money from Rwanda and Nigeria and they got it from Muslims, but at hwat cost to Zambia? It was pf who arrested and arrested RB for stealing and corruption. Now in an election time pf pledges to drop RB’s court, restore his immunity and give him back his over 100 vehicles. RB accepts this and my conclusion is that this man is quilt of stealing and this is a safe way out. For EL’s pf your government represents Zambian peoples interests and if you can enter into such deals where do you leave us the Zambian people. Why support criminal just to get his support? Surely those whom the gods want to destroy they first harden their hearts.
You have my Vote HH. VIVA UPND and HH
@ Mwango pliz get right I am not talking politics the truth of the matter is that a Govt primary school teacher is getting over K4,000 while in a private school a teacher gets below K2,000. I dont need to be a teacher in order for me to know that my child is struggling to read and write. The best you can do Mwango is to resign and look for a more paying job if your qualifications can support you period! As parents we are tired with you now.
Most gvt schools i see have grass thatched huts around. A sign that teachers still lack quality accommodation
rb is really a thief but if he thinks he is going to get awaywith it then is telling lies the case of his son henry of the sale of zamtel and pocket party of the money should be taken back to court .rb dont cheat your self. hh is wining cos no one wants boko harram where you took your brother kachasu lungu and dont forget you destroyed mmd so no one can be cheated by you hh chabe
Well said. It’s the same the world over. Noble professions are undervalued. Lets look at nurses too!
I like you, HH.
HH is not honest in a lot of ways … he is promising to reduce the price of millie meal, electricity tariffs, etc. How can he do so when the government does not own farms and does not own milling companies either? And ZESCO is a commercial entity rather than a truly state-owned company? The Energy Regulation Board is also expected to operate as a semi-independent entity …. He will have to nationalise everything in order to control the prices they charge!
You argument is fraudulently. It is the business of a govt which is in the knowing to regulate market failure. I hope you understand this simple statement. In other words were business houses are taking advantage of the vulnerable govt must chip in to regulate the market. For instance the price of oil on the international markets has fallen over 50% as of last week, hitting the all times low price. If the govt does not do its part to regulate the market the oil marketing companies are happy to maintain the current prices. A good govt will intervene to ensure all benefit from this reduction in oil prices, even when they do not own oil wells as put it.