The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has charged that it is hypocritical and fraud to disqualify citizens above the age of 45 from the ongoing teacher recruitment programme by the Government.

The Government through the Ministry of Education is in the process of employing 30,000 teachers, with about 100,000 practitioners having applied for the jobs.

According to the Zambia Daily mail report, Teaching Service Commission (TSC) chairperson Daphne Chimuka said applicants aged above 45 and foreign nationals were eliminated from the recruitment.

The Teaching Service Commission (TSC) has already finished scrutinising applications in the teacher recruitment process at district level.

But EFF Secretary General Changala Siame said his party was disappointed by the decision of the government through the Ministry of Education, to disqualify teachers aged above 45 from the enrolment.

Mr. Siame observed that some of the unemployed teachers aged above 45 have been denied an opportunity to be employed in the previous governments for many years.

He said leaving out qualified teachers that completed earlier and prioritizing those that completed recently is a signal of corruption and demanded ACC to take interest in this process.

“The disqualification of citizens above 45 to be enrolled as teachers is hypocritical. As Economic Freedom Fighters EFF, we are disappointed by the decision of the government through the Ministry of Education, to disqualify any person who is a qualified Teacher but has attained the age of 45 years or above. This is a very unfair approach to enrollment of citizens who for a long time have been denied an opportunity to be employed in the previous governments. Actually as Economic Freedom Fighters EFF, our expectations in terms of criteria for employment were supposed to be; first completed first to be considered for employment,” Mr. Siame said.

“This was the most suitable and equitable approach as the selection will only be based on papers submitted without personal interviews. If anything, any selection that will leave out qualified Teachers that completed earlier and prioritize those that completed recently, is a signal for corruption and we demand ACC to take interest in this process,” he continued.

Mr. Siame questioned why the same government that has sent senior citizens in foreign missions is denying teachers aged above 45 a chance to be employed.

“Besides, this government has double standards that render it to be hypocritical. How than did Mr. Steven Katuta, Mr. Panji Kaunda and many other senior citizens qualify for jobs and yet deny people that were youths then who became adults with no job opportunities in the past? Therefore, as Economic Freedom Fighters EFF are demanding that the Minister of Education Mr. Douglas Siakalima to reverse this clause and treat all citizens fairly, equitably with a lot of consideration for their misfortune in life,” Mr. Siame said.

The Teaching Service Commission is expected to start announcing names of successful candidates on June 1.

The commission has indicated that the verification process ended on Wednesday last week and that names of people who qualified have been submitted to provinces.

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