Windfall for 'stop gap' teachers

Hundreds of teachers are reported to be dumping private secondary schools for the 'manna from heaven' following the newly introduced lucrative three-year contracts at the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD).An estimated 3,000 vacancies are expected to be made available  as the ministry sends teachers for further studies.  

On Saturday Deputy Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Theophilus Mooko, confirmed to The Monitor that they are now giving new recruits two to three-year contracts with full benefits, something that he confirmed has also resulted in teachers employed in private schools jumping at the offers.A managing director of a private school in Palapye over the weekend complained that his school was losing teachers to government, but Mooko laughed at criticisms that the ministry is now "looting the private sector" of teachers.  "It is a complicated one, because we also continue to lose teachers to the private sector in certain areas," he said.