This is beginning of recruitment of public workers, says Mweetwa
By Kombe Mataka
SOUTHERN Province minister Cornelius Mweetwa says government opted to employ more primary than secondary school teachers to give life to the realisation of government policy of free education.
In the current recruitment exercise announced on Friday, slightly over 20 per cent of those recruited are secondary school teachers and degree holders.
Mweetwa acknowledged when he featured on Choma’s Manu Radio on Saturday that majority of secondary school teachers and many other categories had not been picked.
“I have seen on social media platforms where some people are saying they have been left out. And I want to clarify this. Yes, the advert was about 30,000 positions available. Those who came through to apply were more than a 100,000. Inevitably therefore, it meant that those who will be left out are the majority. And therefore, it should not surprise anybody that there will be people expressing grief or concern that they have been left out but we want to assure them that this is not the end of the game. This is the beginning of the business of recruitment of public workers,” he said. “The point I want to drive home is that in this teacher recruitment which was announced yesterday [Friday], the majority of those who have been recruited are primary school teachers. Those who applied as secondary school teachers, the majority have not been picked. The rational is simple, this recruitment is and was responding to the implementation of government policy of free education from grade one up to grade 12. And for those therefore who are entering the school system which is pyramidal in nature that you have more people entering school at grade one… So those who have been left out, the majority are in the bracket of secondary school teaching.”
Mweetwa said the government had shamed critics that thought the recruitment would not happen.
“Contrary to nay and doomsayers who predicted that in fact the government was playing hide and seek, delaying the announcement of names of those who were successful candidates, like we have done on free education; like we have done on CDF (Constituency Development Fund); like we have done on purchases of mattresses, beds and blankets for prisons; like we have recruited 30,000 teachers in one off recruitment process,” said Mweetwa. “We expect not to be praised but we expect the people to reclaim the lost confidence in the governance system. We insisted when in the opposition that we are going to govern by the rules of trust and honesty and hard work to ensure that the people can believe in their own government .”