By Staff Reporter
THE Primary and Secondary Education Ministry has dismissed as false claims by the Amalagamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) indicating a 30% teacher turnout in rural schools at the beginning of the first term of 2025.
The ministryโs director of communication and advocacy Taungana Ndoro said the ministry โstrongly rejects the unfounded and deceptive claimsโ made by Artuz.
He, however, called for collaboration with unions as a vital tool for enhancing the educational landscape and addressing the needs of teachers and pupils.
โWe, therefore, reject these allegations by Artuz with the seriousness they warrant and urge stakeholders to seek information from credible sources.
โOur commitment remains unwavering: every child deserves quality education in a conducive environment. We invite stakeholders to engage with us openly to address any concerns or questions.
โThe integrity of our education sector is robust and we will not be deterred by attempts to diminish its accomplishments,โ Ndoro said.
However, Artuz secretary-general Robson Chere hit back in an interview with a privately run daily paper saying, while they appreciated the ministryโs efforts to engage with the unionโs they wanted to address the serious inaccuracies and misleading claims made in its statement.
โArtuzโs report, grounded in factual data collected directly from teachers and school-based observations, accurately reflects the state of attendance.
โUnfortunately, the ministryโs response seems motivated more by a need to deflect from the real issues than to acknowledge the sector’s profound challenges,โ he said.
Chere said exaggerated claims of a 100% attendance rate by the ministry were both laughable and alarming as they served to mask the systemic failures that continued to cripple our education system.
โThe ministryโs reliance on setting up command centres to monitor attendance is a clear indication of the deep-rooted crisis within the sector.
โThe fact that such measures are necessary reveals a failure of governance and oversight in managing both teacher and student participation,โ he said.
-AMH
