According to the Chronicle, there is a chronic shortage of teachers in Matabeleland South. Some primary schools are reported to have only three teachers. These teachers would be responsible for all classes from ECD up to Grade 7. Often these teachers would not be qualified to teach most of the classes they would be responsible for.
In an interview on Friday, Matabeleland South Provincial Education Director Mr. Lifias Masukume said a number of schools in the province were in dire need of staffing as the few available teachers were being overwhelmed. He said some schools in Insiza and rural Gwanda have only three staff members.
It appears the situation has not improved since the beginning of the year. Back then Mr. Masukume revealed that primary schools in the province were only operating with only 210 qualified Early Childhood Development teachers out of an expected 1 294.
There was also a shortage of teachers for core subjects such as Maths, English, and Science.
