Unemployed Teachers Seek Equitable Hiring Criteria
UTAZ agrees prioritizing earlier graduates makes sense but also suggests the government implement an automated recruitment system.
LUSAKA, Zambia - The Unemployed Teachers Association of Zambia (UTAZ) is considering engaging the government on establishing equitable and standardized criteria for recruiting teachers into the public school system, writes Crosbel Chilongo.
This follows complaints from unemployed trained teachers across Zambia who question the current teacher recruitment process, which saw recent graduates being hired over earlier graduates in the latest hiring round.
"Since 2019, I have been submitting applications but ended up not being picked despite good grades," said Britious Muleya, a teacher who graduated in 2019. "This recent hiring round revealed most recruits were more recent graduates than me."
UTAZ agrees prioritizing earlier graduates makes sense but also suggests the government implement an automated recruitment system.
"We welcome prioritizing earlier graduates. It's unfair to see those who graduated four years ago still unemployed while newer grads are hired," said UTAZ Executive Director Francis Musonda in an interview.
"As UTAZ, we want to engage the government to implement a digital recruitment system that is time and cost effective."
The Ministry of Education declined to comment, referring to a recent public statement about the 2023 teacher recruitment and deployment.
The government has not made public the specific criteria used in selecting teachers in recent years, which concerns unemployed teachers.
According to Education Minister Douglas Syakalima, the 2023 recruitment focused on secondary teachers in math, science and Zambian languages.
Of 69,311 applicants nationwide, 7,221 were hired, including 451 teachers with disabilities.
The new hires aim to improve the teacher-student ratio to the recommended levels of 1:45 in primary and 1:35 in secondary schools. Currently the ratios average 1:58 and 1:38 respectively.