Do not condemn teachers’ strike

By Simon Kabanda

Government has condemned the strike by teachers, saying it “is detrimental to the development of the country”.
I find this condemnation hypocritical and insincere. While it is true that when teachers do not teach the country suffers, it should also be appreciated that paying teachers slave wages is detrimental to their personal development, and ultimately to the nation’s development.

How does government expect teachers to perform and yield the nation’s desired results when they are not motivated? How do you expect teachers to perform wonders when their services are not appreciated? How do you expect them to work efficiently when they live in deplorable conditions?

I wish to invite the honourable Minister of Education Douglas Syakalima to pay a visit to some houses where teachers stay.
Since he is too busy with ministerial duties to go to rural areas, I am inviting him to drive only a few kilometres from his office and visit the houses outside Munali Secondary School and Tunduya Basic School, where some of the teachers live.
These are small structures that were built in the early 1950s for African workers (not teachers but general workers) at Munali School.

They are nothing to talk about as decent shelter. They have no windowpanes, termites help themselves to the doors, and there are no toilets, no sanitation, no water, and no electricity.

One wonders how the teachers manage to do their lesson plans in the dark since their slave wages cannot allow them to buy candles. And when they go on strike demanding for housing allowance so that they live decently, Government is quick to condemn them. Is this being serious?

Let us ponder over the situation of a teacher in Luwingu, in Chief Chungu’s area, which is more than 60 kilometres from the boma. S/he is the only teacher at a school, which runs from Grades 1 to 7. S/he plays the role of head, deputy head, senior teacher, class teacher, all in one.

S/he gets the salary every month in Kasama because there is no bank in Luwingu. To travel from kwa Chungu to Luwingu, s/he walks for two days because there is no public transport.

Alternatively, s/he borrows a bicycle from a pensioner, and at a fee. In Luwingu, s/he borrows some transport money. S/he spends a night in Luwingu before an open van takes them to Kasama in the morning.
The van arrives in Kasama after 14.30 hours when the banks are closed. If the van is fast enough to arrive before the closure of the bank, the teacher does not go immediately into the bank because s/he has to remove the dust s/he gathered on the road.
S/he needs a bath, and therefore time to go to the bank is lost. Two to three days are already lost before one gets one’s salary.

On the fourth day, the teacher gets the so-called salary (slave wages), and goes to do a bit of shopping. S/he buys one tablet of Lifebuoy to use by the family for the whole month, one packet of sugar for the whole month, one bottle of cooking oil, one bottle of Vaseline, one small packet of Kawambwa tea, one loaf of bread for the whole month.
S/he spends another night in Kasama. Before getting back to Luwingu s/he settles her/his debts at the market where s/he was eating nshima and spending the nights.
What has remained from her/his slave wages is going to pay for her transport back to Luwingu. Arriving in Luwingu s/he repays the money s/he had borrowed for transport to Kasama. Then s/he pays the one who looked after the borrowed bicycle in Luwingu.
S/he cycles back kwa Chungu on the sixth day, arriving home with only one small carrier bag of essential commodities for the family.

The only money that has remained from the slave wages is meant to pay for the borrowed bicycle, according to the number of days that the bicycle was away.
The teacher is more demoralised than when s/he went to get her slave wages. Meanwhile, for the whole week pupils did not learn anything.

As far as government is concerned, this situation, which occurs every month, is not detrimental to the development of the country, except when teachers go on strike. This is some kind of a joke isn’t it? I think this country is being run jokingly. Is this how we ought to be governed?

Teaching is a noble profession, and yet teachers are among the most abused, most exploited and most uncared for by government. Apart from slave wages, the environment and conditions in which they live and work are deplorable.
When I was growing up, teachers were role models, and many of us looked forward to becoming teachers when we grew up.
But now there is no inspiration to draw from them. It is not something of their own making, but they have been reduced to how they are because of the lack of concern by government.

In the olden days teachers were very presentable, but today they cannot afford to buy decent clothing due to slave wages.
Teachers are not only supposed to teach Mathematics and Science and English etc.

They are supposed to inform their pupils on the current affairs. But how can they when they cannot in the first place afford to inform themselves? They cannot afford to buy the daily newspapers, let alone magazines such as New African, Focus on Africa, Newsweek, etc.

And then you condemn them for going on strike! Let us be serious, please! All what the teachers are fighting for is a restoration of their dignity!

Let me address you, comrade teachers. You are not alone in this fight for the restoration of your dignity. Stick to your resolve, whether they brand you this or that. You are very important to this nation.

I am able to write now because you taught me how. It must be very disappointing to you that after all your efforts to educate us, we forget about you when we become politicians. Shame on us!

As I am addressing you, I feel frustrated because very few of you are able to buy a copy of this newspaper. For those of you who have managed to read this, take the message to your comrade teachers.
In your fight for the restoration of your dignity, it is better that you direct your energies on addressing the root causes of the problems.

Your situation today has everything to do with lack of proper policies by government. And one way by which to compel government to take care of you is by ensuring that your plight is taken care of by the highest law of the land, the constitution.

Today you are getting slave wages because your human right to decent wages has not been enshrined in the constitution.
You are living in deplorable conditions because your human right to shelter is not protected by the constitution.

Going to State House to bargain for your wages will not improve your situation. Let us bargain together by ensuring that these issues are enshrined in the Republican Constitution.