Teacher incentives: a death knell for education in Zimbabwe?

Government is failing to pay teachers sustainable salaries. In an attempt to improve the teacher’s incomes and to check strikes and brain drain, The Government through circular minute number 5 of 2009, directed that ten percent (10%) of the levies collected by schools should go towards paying teacher’s incentives. This led to an outcry in the media by both parents and teachers. This study set out to establish the problems that emanated from the payment of the 10% incentives at local level. One hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires were distributed to teachers who were conveniently sampled among 1200 teachers who were marking the ZIMSEC November 2009 O level examinations at Chinhoyi University of Technology. Interviews were conducted with 30 parents who were conveniently sampled from 100 parents whose children attended school in three Gweru district secondary schools. The total sample was one hundred and eighty (180) participants. The findings indicated that the incentive payment programme has created disparities among the teacher’s incomes, leading to discontent among many of them who were not receiving the incentives. Seventy (70%) of the teachers indicated that they had since stopped serious teaching in class and were running parallel activities that included offering private lessons within the school premises. Twenty percent (20%) of those who were receiving the incentive said they were working hard as continued payment of the incentive depended on the quality of results they produced. The study recommends that the payment of incentives should be lifted off the shoulders of parents and that government must take full care of its employees

Re-integration of institutionalised children into society: a case study of Zimbabwe

The study examined the successes and challenges that Zimbabwe has experienced in process of reintegration of institutionalized children into society. The study was informed by the mixed methods research design. The sample comprised of nine randomly selected children's homes out of a total of seventy two registered children's homes in the country. Considerable progress has been made towards achieving the goal of reintegration. The study established that a National child Care Standards document has been drafted by the Ministry of Labour and Social services to facilitate the process of reintegration ,while most institutions have built family type structures to replace the dormitory set up that existed before. Support systems to enhance the process of reintegration have been put in place as evidenced by organs such the National Action Plan housed under the Ministry of Labour and Social Services. The main challenges identified by the study were inadequate financial resources to carry a full scale reintegration process and the difficulties experienced in identifying institutionalized children's familial origins. The study recommends that government avails more funds through the department of social services to enhance the reintegration process