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Raymond Majongwe

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Government has re-introduced a hardship allowance for rural teachers calculated at five percent of the educators’ gross monthly salaries. The move is likely to create some imbalances between rural teachers and their urban counterparts who recently had incentives that they were getting from parents and guardians, scrapped.

Rural teachers used to get the rural allowance but Government stopped paying them in 2009, when it formalised the multi-currency system and every civil servant was paid a uniform $100. Teachers unions yesterday confirmed that Government had started paying them a rural hardship allowance with most of them getting between US$15 and US$25 monthly depending on the grade.

This is way below the 15 percent of basic salary civil servants were demanding in their position paper handed to Government in December last year.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association president and Apex Council team leader, Mr Richard Gundane, said while the percentage of the allowance was below their expectations, at least Government was recognising the existence of the rural worker.

He said the scrapping of the rural allowance had seen most civil servants shunning remote areas.
“Rural teachers have been getting this for the past three months and this mere gesture of putting that five percent is an indication that rural teachers are recognised,” he said.

“What is now needed is for Government to continue working on the percentage such that it becomes significant because those in remote areas have to be cushioned from the hard conditions peculiar with those areas.”
Mr Gundane said a rural allowance was critical in skills retention.

“Government should put something to entice its workers such that we have quality services for the development of the country and even successful implementation of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset),” he said. The lowest paid civil servant is getting $375. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general, Mr Rayond Majongwe, said Government should continue incentivising civil servants.

“At least on the issue of the rural allowance there is a starting point but we call on local authorities to assist Government in incentivising the teachers through various means like housing,” he said.