State universities teaching staff exit impacting E...

State universities teaching staff exit impacting Education 5.O delivery

Zim Now Writer

The remarks by Great Zimbabwe University Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Zvobgo at the Masvingo-based institution’s graduation ceremony last month on the impact of brain drain in the country were not misplaced.

Large numbers of lecturers in Zimbabwe’s State Universities are leaving the country is protests over poor salaries and other conditions of service.

GZU has lost has lost 50 educators since the beginning of the year, negatively affecting the successful implementation of government’s Education 5.0 policy.

“This year alone, we lost 50 members of staff through resignations, five of them were PhD holders. This has negatively impacted our critical mass of specialised human resources,” Zvobgo said.

A UZ lecturer who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “Lecturers are leaving in great numbers. Some non-academic staff are also leaving because some salaries earned in October were in the negative.”

The Association of University Teachers (AUT), a grouping of academic staff at the University of Zimbabwe’s leadership had engaged Vice Chancellor Paul Mapfumo over poor salaries and working conditions, which they said had caused “an unprecedented decline in morale, leading to an exodus of experts in vital fields such as medicine”.

President of the College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe David Dzatsunga said lecturers at State institutions have turned destitute.

“Quite a number of lecturers are leaving for the diaspora especially because of the low salaries and poor conditions of service incomparable with counterparts in the region and internationally,” he said.

Zimbabwe has over 10 State universities spread across all the country’s provinces.