TEACHER DEPLOYMENT ON THE COPPERBELT: LET US PUT THE RECORD STRAIGHT
A teacher cannot simply wake up one morning and decide that they will teach at a school of their choice. No. A headteacher cannot simply receive a teacher from another school, allocate them a class and make that deployment official. No.
Teacher deployment is a formal administrative process governed by established procedures and the authority of the relevant institutions. It is not a matter of personal choice or informal arrangements between schools.
Teachers must be formally deployed or transferred by the competent authority. Every change of station must follow the established procedures and be properly reflected in Government records.
This is why the allegations by Copperbelt Minister Hon. Emmanuel Kasambo of 1,247 excess teachers in Kitwe and 311 in Ndola must be backed by a transparent, school-by-school audit. Before declaring any district overstaffed, Government must establish the actual staffing position and determine how these discrepancies arose.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for teacher staffing policy, planning and coordinating distribution. Provincial Education Offices (PEOs) and District Education Board Secretaries (DEBS) coordinate staffing needs and redistribution, while the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) exercises statutory authority over teacher appointments, transfers and other personnel matters within its mandate. PSMD and Cabinet Office also have responsibilities relating to public-service establishment and staffing authorisation.
The bigger problem is the failure to properly coordinate teacher deployment and Government payroll records through the Payroll Management and Establishment Control (PMEC) system.
In 2022, the Ministry informed Parliament that 17,800 teaching staff were working at schools different from those reflected in their payroll records. This points to a serious administrative weakness. Government must establish whether these discrepancies resulted from unauthorised movements, approved transfers that were never updated in the system, or administrative negligence.
Teachers who abandon their stations without authorisation must face disciplinary action. Equally, officials who authorise movements but fail to regularise the records must be held accountable. Removing teachers from the payroll without verifying individual cases and following due process is not a solution.
The way forward is simple:
1. Conduct a physical, school-by-school audit to establish where every teacher is officially posted and where they are actually working.
2. Verify the alleged surpluses and shortages against approved and funded school establishments.
3. Identify who authorised irregular movements and hold responsible officers accountable.
4. Publish the findings and lawfully redistribute genuine surpluses to schools facing shortages.
Finally, teacher deployment cannot be addressed through transfers alone. Government must invest in rural schools, build decent accommodation for teachers, improve roads, water, electricity and other essential services. We cannot expect teachers to remain in underserved communities while neglecting the conditions in which they are expected to live and work.
Fix the deployment system, hold the right people accountable and give every Zambian child a fair chance at quality education, regardless of where they live.
Antonio Mourinho Mwanza