Some of the delegates who attended the two-day lecturers congress at Zesa Training Centre in Harare last week
Talent Chimutambgi Review Writer
College lecturers would like Government to redress salary gaps between them and their university counterparts. This came out at a two-day congress for college lecturers held at ZESA Training Centre in Harare last week under the auspices of College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe (COLAZ), a body which represents the constituency.
“The major aim of this congress is to seek strategies to engage the Government to redress salary gaps between college and university lecturers, which were created by the Peterson grading system,” said outgoing COLAZ president Mr David Dzatsunga.
“We want the Government, through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary, Science and Technological Development to bridge these salary gaps so that we can get at least 70 percent of what university lecturers are getting.”
COLAZ says there are about 2 500 college lecturers in the country, 70 of them from 27 institutions including polytechnic colleges across the country attended the congress.
Information from the congress shows that college lecturers currently earn a basic salary $312 a month.
University lecturers earn a minimum basic of $1 300 a month, with some institutions going up to $1 700. However, The Herald Review understands that take home pay of university lecturers differs greatly depending on the extras that their particular institution can afford, with some lecturers reportedly grossing over $3 000.
COLAZ secretary for administration Mr Jinggy Makarudze said there is need for recognition of the key role played by all tertiary institutions in providing the country with skilled human resources without discriminating between universities and colleges.
“We need to establish a commission which represents all tertiary staff because it’s not fair that as colleges we produce skilled journey persons who then go on to earn large amounts after graduating,” said Mr Makarudze.
Ms Ivy Jeche, a lecturer at Harare Polytechnic College, said they are appealing to Government to look into their welfare as a matter of urgency.
“We want 70 percent of university lecturers’ salary, and again to be moved from being under Public Service Commission. Once that is done we are safe,’’ said Ms Jeche.
She did not, however, explain what advantages removal from the Public Service Commission would engender for the college lecturers.
Zimbabwe National Association of Students president Mr Gilbert Mutubuki said lecturers and students are flip sides of the same coin and therefore issues affecting lecturers automatically impacted on the students’ education.
“We operate in the same environment in Higher and Tertiary Education, so basically their challenges are similar to what the students are facing and we are here to map a way forward because if lecturers are not paid well, we are automatically affected.
“As students we advocate for the lecturers to be treated well by the ministry so as to improve the quality of education.
“So we are here in solidarity because the same situation happened recently at the University of Zimbabwe whereby lecturers had a combined demonstration.
“They were not coming for lectures, which affected us to the extent that we had to pay thousands of dollars because Government was not able to pay them.
“We therefore urge the Government to re-look at the conditions of service for lecturers and consider the environment they are operating under,” said Mr Mutubuki
The State, meanwhile, seems seized with the conduct of the lecturers themselves.
In a speech read on his behalf at the congress, Higher and Tertiary, Science and Technology Development permanent secretary Ambassador Machivenyika Mapuranga called on college lecturers to be professional and desist from the practice of demanding bribes from desperate students seeking enrolment in colleges.
“Corruption has become rife in practices like accepting bribes for enrolment and unfair treatment during teaching practice and industrial attachment assessment.
“I say to you, let us thwart this devil before it goes viral,” he said.
Ambassador Mapuranga said corruption can only be kept in check if people work together in developing correct standards and procedures at the work place.
He urged college lecturers to embrace the ethical values of care, integrity, professional conduct, respect and trust when carrying out their duties.
Ambassador Mapuranga said Government is working flat out to do away with corruption and lecturers should support this cause.
Outgoing COLAZ president Mr David Dzatsunga concurred with Ambassador Mapuranga.
He said corrupt administrators took advantage of the high demand of places and suggest bribes from prospective students.
“This situation happened in Masvingo at Morganster Teachers College, where a lecturer related to the principal accepted bribes from more than 300 potential students and was arrested for that,” he said.
The congress was running under the theme, “Restoring dignity of college lecturers: Towards a corruption-free work environment’’.
Among other talking points raised was the need for a practical application of Government’s policy towards gender equality by increasing women’s participation in lectureship of areas like engineering, which are currently dominated by men.
Ms Keresia Chitupa, a lecturer in the Engineering department at Mupfure College in Chegutu, said women who have dared to venture into male-dominated sectors suffer from stigma and gender-based abuse from their male counterparts.
“Men look down upon us and they (men) victimise us, men never recognise us especially in the department of engineering. Like myself, I am an Engineering lecturer at Mupfure College, men usually undermine me,” said Ms Chitupa.
COLAZ was formed in 2004 and went dormant before it was revived in 2009 with its main thrust being to advocate for the improvement conditions of service of college lecturers.