ZIMTA President and delegation leader Mr Richard Gundane while appearing before the parliamentary committee chaired by Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga proposed that the government increase their education budget to include USD salaries for teachers and PPE among other things.
Speaking after giving the evidence Gundane said:
Our presentation was mainly centred on increasing the education budgetary allocation as a conduit to enable government to meet its obligations before schools re-open. Capacitation of teachers would involve training teachers on handling COVID 19, cater for risk allowances, provision of PPEs, recruitment of in excess of 10 000 additional teachers as well the return of the USD 520 salary since we have re-dollarized in this COVID 19 era.
Improved school infrastructure and amenities in preparation for schools re-opening will ensure that we meet the World Health Organisations safety standards concerning social distancing. Most of our schools would need to purchase additional furniture as well as provision of temporary classes for social distancing to be possible
Parents and schools cannot afford PPEs and the additional budgetary allocation will ensure that learners have access to these necessary items. Equipment like thermometers and sanitizers would be also covered. To this effect we gave parliament regional and international case studies
Government through this additional budgetary allocation would be able to capacitate both leaners and teachers to engage in remote learning. This should see government investing in ICT equipment and other enablers to ensure that both rural and urban learners can equally access the facility. Outside of that embracing e-learning will prove to be very difficult
The committee quizzed us about our thoughts on whether private schools which could meet the safety requirements on their own should open and we said no. We are in support of uniformity as well as an education system that does not further disadvantage the already disadvantaged communities