More Zambian teachers to join our educational system soon |05 August 2019

Minister Simeon and Minister Mabumba exchange documents after signing the MoU

The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development (MEHRD) and the Ministry of General Education of Zambia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the recruitment of an extra 32 Zambian teachers, lecturers and other specialists in the education sector.

Most of the Zambian teachers, 23 of them, will be working in our primary schools while the others will be teaching in the secondary schools.

The English speaking teachers, who will arrive in the country during the course of this month, will be teaching subjects like English, Science and Mathematics.

This will be the second cohort of teachers from Zambia following a batch of 48 teachers (two already left for personal reasons) who arrived in July 2018 to work specifically in the secondary schools.

Minister Jeanne Simeon signed the MoU on behalf of the Seychelles government whereas Minister David Mabumba signed on behalf of his country.

The signing ceremony took place on Saturday morning at the MEHRD headquarters, Mont Fleuri in the presence of the principal secretary for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Odile De Comarmond; the principal secretary for Tertiary Education and Human Resource Development, Dr Linda Barallon; special advisors Merida Delcy and John Lesperance; and other senior staff of the ministry.

From the Zambia side, present were the chairperson of Teaching Service Commission, Stanley Mhango; the principal secretary of Public Service Management Division, Borniface Chimbwali; the director of Human Resource and Administration, Joshua Kamanya; and legal advisor Besa Chibwe.

The recruitment has come after the MEHRD has been experiencing an acute shortage of teachers at primary level as had been the case at secondary level last year, thus forcing the ministry to again recruit from overseas.

Due to the increasing vacancies and the good performance of the first batch of Zambian teachers, the ministry made another request for another 32 teachers in April 2019 for both primary and secondary school. The teachers are on a two-year renewable contract.

Addressing all present, Minister Simeon said the signing agreement sets a significant milestone between the two ministries in the ongoing collaboration and also marks the consolidation of a true partnership.

“Such collaboration provides a platform for mutual benefits of our education professionalism. Our local teachers have benefited from the expertise of the Zambian teachers in certain areas, for example Design Technology and Hospitality. Likewise, the Zambian have followed several professional development sessions, notably in IGCSE ICT,” Minister Simeon said, noting that there will also be further sessions to be provided by Cambridge University for IGCSE in Design Technology, English as a second language and Mathematics.

Minister Simeon further noted that the first cohort of Zambian teachers have settled really well in the schools and that the MEHRD is pleased with their level of performance and professionalism.

She added that the ministry is optimistic to attain marked improvement in learner performance in the near future.

Minister Simeon expressed her sincere gratitude and heartfelt thanks to everyone whose dedication and effort have contributed to the finilisation of the MoU.

For his part, Minister Mabumba said the MOU will not only strengthen the current bilateral relationship but will also increase the cultural exchange between the two countries.

“The signing of this memorandum of understanding between the two countries will open future opportunities for expansion particularly, in education and hospitality sectors. We are hopeful that these opportunities would include: exchange of education programmes and culture; improvement of curriculum development; sharing of information and communication technology, which is quite advanced in your schools; and research methods,” Minister Mabumba said, noting that Zambia has enough trained teachers and lecturers in various fields to fulfill our educational wishes.

He thanked the government for taking great care of the Zambian teachers, in terms of accommodation and security as they have not received any bad report.

The request for the services of the Zambian teachers was initiated by President Danny Faure to the late Zambian high commissioner to the Republic of Kenya, Brenda Muntemba, during a bilateral meeting in September 2017 where after, both sides have met for further discussions which has resulted in this agreement for the supply of teachers.

Also present at Saturday’s signing ceremony were head teachers Medgee Nancy and Philip Morel from Belonie and Beau Vallon secondary schools respectively and some Zambian teachers working in Seychelles.

After one year teaching English at the English River secondary school, Christine Nyirenda said that it has been good so far with the two parties understanding each other as compared to the beginning when they had to face students with attitude and disciplinary problems.

Mr Morel, who have five Zambian teachers under his management at the Beau Vallon secondary school, said they have integrated well and their disciplined teaching strategies have gained the respect of the students.

The Zambian delegation, who arrived in the country on Friday, also met all Zambian teachers at the Site auditorium on Saturday. They leave the country today.