Teachers Turn To Farming And Illegal Mining To Survive | Report

Zimbabwean teachers are turning to risky side jobs to make ends meet, as government salaries are no longer enough to live on, a new survey has found.

The Basket of Needs survey, released by the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), reports that teachers are surviving through side projects such as farming and illegal mining to earn a living.

Speaking in Harare on Tuesday after presenting the findings, ARTUZ president Obert Masaraure said most teachers depend solely on their government salary. That leaves many in poverty and forces them to look for alternative sources of income.

“A staggering 63% of our teachers rely solely on their teaching salaries, plunging their families into inescapable poverty due to the regime hoarding wealth,” said Masaraure.

“Nearly one in five teachers (17.95%) are forced into farming—not casually diversifying income, but desperate survival labour to avoid starvation.

“Only 14.10% manage to survive by offering extra lessons, and as a radical union, we stand firm: paid extra lessons unfairly place financial strain on working-class parents, and we refuse to let the state turn workers against one another.

“Additionally, secondary poultry production has become a meagre safety net for 12.82% of teaching families.

“Alarmingly, 11.54% of educators now engage in risky informal work, including artisanal gold mining.

“The state should be ashamed that an educator, a keeper of knowledge, must work in dangerous conditions on weekends just to afford necessities.”

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