Ndebele, Tonga Teachers In Short Supply - Minister Ndlovu
The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Evelyn Ndlovu, has denied claims that there is an abundance of Ndebele and other minority language teachers who are unemployed.
This comes after some members of parliament asked why a number of teachers who were deployed in the Matabeleland region lacked the necessary Ndebele language competence.
Ndlovu said that in some cases, teachers lied about their ability to instruct in a specific language, but when they were deployed to schools, they were unable to do so.
She also said that government policy was, “when a child is still young at ECD level up to Grade 3, the child must be taught in his or her mother tongue but we have a challenge of teachers from that region.”
Ndlovu refuted claims that teachers from other regions of the country were being deployed to teach at primary schools in Matabeleland while Ndebele teachers were being overlooked. She said:
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I do not think there are facts there. It is a talk that is very prevalent in our society. The truth must be told that we have got a screen in the office.
Because of the ICT computers and software that we have, all the teachers who graduate register with the Ministry.
After registration with the Ministry – we have transferred that register to the Public Service Commission which has got a register of all the teachers that have graduated.
I am yet to be informed that there are Ndebele teachers that are available but have not been deployed.
But on our screens, we are told that we do not have Ndebele teachers, we do not have Venda teachers, we do not have Kalanga, Sotho, Ndau, and Tonga teachers. They are in short supply.
Ndlovu urged MPs from communities that speak minority languages to encourage people to enroll in teacher training colleges to deal with the shortage of competent teachers to teach minority languages.
She said the majority of children from regions where there is a shortage of teachers do not finish school, instead “leave for South Africa or Botswana.” | CITE
