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Transcript/ScriptCOVID-Zimbabwe Teachers Strike (TV)
HEADLINE: Zimbabwe Teachers Refuse to Resume Classes
TEASER: They want salaries restored to October 2018 levels, when they were getting paid with U.S. dolllars
PUBLISHED AT: 02/10/2022 3:45 pm
BYLINE: Columbus Mavhunga
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Harare, Zimbabwe
VIDEOGRAPHER: Blessing Chigwenhembe
VIDEO EDITOR:
PRODUCER: Barry Unger
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, DLJ
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 2:19
VID APPROVED BY: BR
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO)) [[Schools in Zimbabwe were scheduled to resume this week after the long closure caused by COVID-19. But now, teachers are refusing to return to the classrooms, citing a need for better pay. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.]]
((NARRATOR))
Students in Zimbabwe are still unable to attend classes, even though that schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic were due to reopen on February 7.
That’s because teachers are refusing to go back to work. The teachers currently earn less than 100 dollars a month and want better pay.
Meanwhile, students are reading on their own or heading back home, like this 16-year-old student.
((Zimbabwe Student (in Shona, 15 secs)))
“My appeal (to the government) is for a salary increment for teachers so that they come to work because we aren’t learning. It’s like we are paying fees for nothing. It’s so painful as my parents are struggling for it when I am not learning at all.”
((NARRATOR))
The pay dispute goes back to October 2018, when the government stopped paying teachers in U.S. dollars, switching to the reintroduced Zimbabwean dollar. The new currency has steadily lost value, effectively reducing the teachers’ wages.
Obert Masaraure - the president of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe – says the instructors want their old salary restored, and says the offer of a 20 percent raise amounts to almost nothing.
((Obert Masaraure, President of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe))
“We asked for the restoration of salaries which were robbed from us by the government of the day. And the message to the government is clear we need our pre-October 2018 salaries of US dollars 540. We know these shenanigans of adding an extra dollar to our salaries, that does not add up.”
((NARRATOR))
Government officials see the ongoing talks in a different light and are optimistic of a successful resolution.
((FOR RADIO: Paul Mavima is Zimbabwe's Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.))
((Paul Mavima, Zimbabwe Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare))
((ENG.15 secs))
“In many ways we already have a breakthrough. The leaders of the workers have to a very large extent welcomed this package and they are only saying: let’s discuss how it is going to be implemented.”
((NARRATOR))
The teachers and the government are expected to meet over the weekend to resume negotiations. Meanwhile, students wait to resume their studies months after the pandemic forced their schools to close.
Columbus Mavhunga, for VOA News, Harare, Zimbabwe
NewsML Media TopicsLifestyle and Leisure, Labour, Education, Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
Topic TagsZimbabwe Teachers Refuse to Resume Classes
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateFebruary 10, 2022 18:19 EST
BylineColumbus Mavhunga
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
