Concerns over the shortage of mathematics and science teachers in rural secondary schools dominated question time in Parliament on Wednesday, with legislators urging the Government to ensure learners in remote areas are not left behind.
The issue was raised by Witness Jonga, who said many rural schools offering Form One to Form Six classes struggle to recruit science teachers, leaving learners without access to key STEM subjects.
“I come from rural areas, where from Form 1 to Form 6, science students are facing a challenge. The challenge is that there are few teachers for mathematics and science. For example, at a certain school there are no teachers for science subjects,” Jonga told the House.
Responding, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torerayi Moyo said Government prioritises the recruitment of teachers in shortage science subjects.
“The Government policy is that where there are shortages, for example, in science subjects like physics, chemistry and biology, when teachers graduate, they are employed as soon as they graduate. Where there is a shortage, we employ teachers to cover that gap,” Moyo said.
The discussion followed an earlier question by Wiriranai Muchemwa, who raised concerns about the absence of relief teachers when educators go on maternity leave or other forms of leave, saying classes had often been left without a replacement teacher since the practice ended in 2013.
Moyo acknowledged the problem but said the ministry had addressed it through recent teacher recruitment.
“We have enough teachers… Teachers who are going to be on leave, be it maternity leave or any other leave, we are putting in place a relief teacher for that period,” he said.
Muchemwa also asked what would happen to teachers who had accumulated leave over the years because they could not take time off.
The minister said teachers are entitled to take leave and, where leave days reach the maximum allowed, they can apply to have the days converted into cash through the appropriate administrative procedures.
Lynette Karenyi-Kore then challenged the minister’s assertion that Zimbabwe has enough teachers, citing concerns raised by the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) during a parliamentary workshop.
She said the union had complained that Government had frozen the recruitment of newly qualified teachers, resulting in high teacher-to-pupil ratios and leaving classes unattended when teachers go on leave.
Moyo dismissed claims of a nationwide teacher shortage.
“We do not have a shortage of teachers in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The minister explained that Government was prioritising the recruitment of graduates from earlier years before considering more recent graduates.
“We have other teachers who graduated from 2019 to 2022 who are not yet employed. We are only saying they cannot be employed; it is only those who graduated this year and last year who cannot be recruited yet. If we take those people who graduated in 2025, it will be corruption,” Moyo said.
He added that Zimbabwe’s teacher-to-pupil ratio now stands at between 1:35 and 1:40, following recent recruitment exercises, and said the ministry would continue filling gaps where shortages exist, particularly in science subjects.