Africa-Press – Zambia. Southern Province Minister Cornelius Mweetwa has directed the Provincial Education Officer to revise the report sent to the Teaching Service Commission on teachers’ recruitment.
Mr. Mweetwa said that the education office in the province never involved the stakeholders in the recruitment process as directed by Cabinet circular number 10 of 2022 on recruitment of over 11,000 health workers and 30,000 teachers.
He said that the Cabinet circular directed that stakeholders such as District Commissioners, officers from the Office of the President Special Division, Anti-Corruption Commission, and Drug Enforcement Commission be involved in the recruitments so that the process can be transparent.
Mr. Mweetwa was speaking in Choma today when he held an emergency senior management meeting that included stakeholders in the provincial human resources management committee.
He regretted that even the provincial administration was sidelined especially in the teachers’ recruitment process. He wondered whether local people were considered in the process, adding that the list must be withdrawn before further action by the Teaching Service Commission.
Mr. Mweetwa, who is also Choma Central Member of Parliament, says it will be embarrassing for him to start answering questions from the local people if the list of recruited teachers is published without names of the local people.
The minister said District Commissioners, Council Chairperson and Mayors, including security agencies, confirmed to him that they were not involved in the process. He has further directed that all heads of government departments in the province should involve the provincial administration in every activity.
Meanwhile, Solwezi East member of Parliament Dr. Alex Katakwe has called for the immediate reinstatement of 280 would-be teachers that he says have been removed from the 620 that were initially selected by the Human Resource Management Committee
Dr Katakwe said this happened after receiving verbal instructions from officials from the Teaching Service Commission to reserve 280 slots purportedly for their relatives coming from other provinces.
The area member of Parliament contends that Mushindamo District was allocated 620 slots and wondered why someone at the Teaching Service Commission should decide to disadvantage the locals and recommend that only 340 teachers should be selected from the locals and 280 should come from somewhere else.
He said the decision is unfair especially that the District as met the allocated number. The MP said he was not going allow what he called injustice to happen.
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