Student teachers finally receive an allowance increase

After almost a year of lobbying for an allowance review, Zimbabwean student teachers who have to complete a practical teaching programme as part of their diploma training have finally received an increase.

The raise comes after the student teachers petitioned the Parliament of Zimbabwe twice to raise their monthly allowances, currently pegged at ZW$150, an amount equivalent to a paltry US$1.80. The new allowance, which will be effective from January 2021, will be ZW$5,656 (about US$70). This is the first time the allowance has been reviewed since it was reduced from ZW$350 (equivalent to US$350 at the time) in 2017.

The diploma in education is a three-year course in Zimbabwe. In order to complete the qualification, one should have passed through teaching practice where one is assessed by both internal and external lecturers. The teaching practice tenure runs for three school terms, translating to roughly one year.

Anomaly addressed

In a letter addressed to Professor Fanuel Tagwira, permanent secretary for higher and tertiary education, science and technology development, Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe, secretary for the Public Service Commission, wrote: “The Public Service Commission has noted that the allowances given to student teachers during the period they are on teaching practice are inadequate for their upkeep, and that their allowances compare unfavourably to those paid to their counterparts in the health sector, whose allowances are pegged at the bottom salary step ...currently of ZW$5,656 per month.”

Wutawunashe’s letter states that the “anomaly” will be rectified in January.

Speaking to University World News, the student teachers’ representative of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), Walter Muzamhani, one of the signatories of the student teachers’ petition to parliament said: “We are very happy that, after almost a year of fighting against the humiliation of student teachers in the form of a ZW$150 allowance, we have finally gotten an upward review.”

Muzamhani thanked teachers’ unions and student organisations for supporting their fight and vowed that student teachers will remain uncompromising in their endeavours towards promoting and protecting student teachers’ rights and responsibilities.

Petition, social media campaign helped

The student teachers first petitioned the Parliament of Zimbabwe in February this year but did not manage to do a follow up due to COVID-19 travel restrictions which were in place in the country between March and September. Parliament reportedly lost the first petition, prompting the student teachers to partner with a teachers’ union and write another petition in October.

In this petition, student teachers demanded that their allowances on teaching practice be the equivalent of 80% of the salary of the lowest-paid qualified teacher and that the new allowance be backdated to February 2020 when the first petition was submitted, as well as demanding the setting up of a board representing student teachers' welfare similar to that of student nurses, and a review of the teaching practice allowance whenever the salaries of qualified teachers are reviewed.

Besides the petition, student teachers had also launched a social media campaign advocating for the allowance review. The campaign saw leading student organisations like the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) and Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) also participating.