Maravi

ZNUT asks govt to define hardship allowance

ZNUT asks govt to define hardship allowance
By George Zulu in Monze
Sunday October 12, 2008 [04:00]

ZAMBIA National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) has called on the government to seriously consider defining rural hardship allowance for teachers in rural areas.

Speaking during the Teachers Day celebrations last week under the theme”, Quality teachers for quality education: Teachers matter," ZNUT Monze district chairperson Augustine Muleya expressed displeasure over the lack of definition of who qualifies to receive the rural hardship allowance.

Muleya said there were a lot of teachers in urban schools benefiting at the expense of teachers in rural areas.

"It’s saddening that a large number of teachers in rural areas are not benefiting from the rural hardship allowance, yet teachers in urban schools are the ones benefiting. Can the ministry define what rural hardship allowance and who is supposed to benefit?" he said.
Muleya also urged the government to quickly consider paying teachers their fixed band housing allowances which have not been paid since 2002, with interest at the current bank rates.

He warned that his union was not interested in a tug of war with the Ministry of Education when there was a provision of discussing matters that relate to teachers in the district.

And Monze District education board secretary Josephine Shamputa assured teachers that the government was in process of paying what belongs to them, but did not state when the money would be released.

Shamputa said the government was committed to improving the education standards in the country through infrastructure development and the deployment of qualified and quality teachers in both rural and urban areas.

Shamputa said government has since deployed 108 teachers to Monze district to help improve the quality of education in the remotest parts of the district.

Labels: AUGUSTINE MULEYA, MONZE, ZNUT

posted by MrK @ 4:35 AM