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Prof Mavima

Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Bureau
GOVERNMENT has temporarily suspended enrolling of teachers for the Teacher Capacity Building Programme that was recently introduced to enable full implementation of the new curriculum owing to a tight budget and lack of resources, an official has said.

In an interview, Primary and Secondary Education Deputy Minister Professor Paul Mavima said Government had stopped enrolling teachers for the Teacher Capacity Building Programme due to limited resources.

Prof Mavima said the temporary suspension of the programme would not affect teachers who had already enrolled in universities.

He said Government would ensure that they finish their programmes while more resources were being mobilised for the resumption of the programme.

“We have suspended the enrolling of new students under the Teacher Capacity Building Programme. This is because the resources that we have at the moment do not allow us to do so. This is temporary because we want to resume the programmes in future. Those that have been enrolled are not going to be affected,” he said.

The Ministry had engaged five universities as implementing partners in the Teacher Capacity Development Programme and some have introduced new degree programmes for the 16 vernacular languages that were recently accepted and recognised as official languages. Over 2 500 teachers have been enrolled in universities under the teacher capacity development programme. The Primary and Secondary Education Ministry partnered with Midlands State University, which has so far enrolled 630 teachers in Information and Communication Technology.

Great Zimbabwe University has enrolled teachers in vernacular languages. Zimbabwe Open University focuses on administration programmes while Bindura University enrols in science programmes and University of Zimbabwe was also given its man- date.

Primary and Secondary Education Permanent Secretary, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango, recently told The Herald that Government had disbursed $3 million for the teacher capacity development programme. Dr Utete-Masango said Government had since the inception of the Teacher Capacity Development Programme, disbursed $3 million for the programme apart from the amount that has been contributed by other implementing partners and donors.

“We have so far spent $ 3 million in the teacher capacity development programme. We have encountered challenges here and there and we approached the finance ministry to resolve the problem,” SHE SAID.