Teachers in Zimbabwe have to trade carefully if the pronouncements by Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) are anything to go by. Most secondary and high school teachers in Zimbabwe have been conducting extra lessons to pupils they teach as a way to survive.
There have been numerous reports that teachers mostly in urban areas are charging students during outside hours for extra lessons. These reports also suggest that teachers are no longer teaching during normal hours as they want to cash i from the same students after normal hours.
ZACC is currently working with the Ministry of Education to criminalise the practise of offering extra lessons by teachers. The Ministry of Education pronounced that the act was illegal in 2017 but the pronouncements were not made legal as no Statutory Instrument was enacted.
ZACC Ethics and Public Education manager Dr Munyaradzi Magiga spoke to state media about the developments. “We are working with the education ministry to ensure the Statutory Instrument that makes it illegal to charge a fee for extra lessons is in place. Conducting extra lessons was declared illegal in 2017 and this Statutory Instrument we are working on will make it easier for us as the investigators to assist the ministry,” he said.
We have received many reports, some coming through the media, our website as well as individuals coming to our offices. They have been complaining that teachers are charging in forex for extra lessons.
Mugaga added, “What the teachers are doing is that they charge at least US$12 a month per pupil. At some schools 70 percent of the money goes to the teacher and 30 percent to the administration.”