TIZ Programmes Manager, Andrew Chikowore, said following a series of TIZ-organised community meetings in Masvingo, Harare and Bulawayo, it was observed that there is a government monopoly of staff recruitment, the deployment of teachers, the pay roll and budget over sight.
“This monopoly has led to increased political interference and administrative gaps at provincial, district and school levels. The education sector is susceptible to political interference because of the sizeable finances allocated to it from the national budget. Politicians use their power to influence decisions pertaining to teacher recruitment, deployment and possibly promotion,” said Chikowore.
During the outreach programme Chikowore said they discovered teachers being used to campaign for political parties while some politicians use schools to fundraise for national events.
The high level of corruption in the education sector has resulted in resources being channelled from schools in need, especially in rural areas, to those in urban areas. This necessitates easy kickbacks, bribery, nepotism and favouritism.
He said this uneven distribution of resources was only benefitting better-off students to the detriment of the poor.
During the outreach, communities also cited private tutoring as one of the drivers of corruption, especially when teachers are providing lessons to their own students.
“Paid tutoring has developed into a form of blackmail, where teachers only teach half the syllabus during official hours and pressure students to pay for their private classes to learn the rest,” he said.
Chikowore said the decentralisation of the management of the Basic Education Assistance Module funds to the school community level had also increased the risk of abuse.
Post published in: News