Parents and guardians have urged the government to allow them to pay incentives to teachers as a way to motivate them to save the education system from collapse.
Parents believe that teachers are not working wholeheartedly because they are poorly remunerated and giving them incentives will motivate them to work hard.
Speaking during the 2023 pre-budget public hearings conducted by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget and Finance in Chivhu, a concerned parent, Collen Zvarevashe, said:
As it is, it appears the government is not taking serious into consideration the value of education for our children who are not learning in schools.
The budgets should cater for the welfare of our teachers. Their salaries should be improved.
Government should just admit that it has failed to cater for the welfare of the teacher and allow us to help it by paying incentives.
Families in some poverty-stricken areas in Chikomba are not affording fees for basic education.
This new curriculum cannot be funded to ensure that every parent can afford to educate their children, then it should be abandoned.
Monetary incentives to teachers were introduced in 2009 as their salaries had been eroded by hyperinflation in 2008.
However, the government later banned the payment of incentives after it emerged that some schools were forcing parents to fork out huge amounts in incentives. | NewsDay