TEACHERS HOLD THE FUTURE, NOT ZANU PF
Today we celebrate Zimbabwe’s teachers, the real builders of our future. These are the men and women who hold broken chalk and still manage to draw hope on the board. I think of the early mornings, the long walks, the empty lunch boxes, and the quiet courage it takes to teach when the salary cannot feed a family. But praise is not enough anymore. This year’s theme, “Recasting teaching as a collaborative profession,” shows that it is time to move from simple gratitude to real action. We must work together, protect teacher dignity, and build the schools our children need.
True collaboration, free from fear and political pressure, can change every lesson and every life. When teachers work together without control from ZANU PF, something powerful grows. We can build mentorship networks where old teachers guide new teachers. We can make online hubs where lesson plans and short masterclasses are shared so both rural and urban schools learn together. We can start mobile resource teams that carry science tools and simple labs to communities that have never seen a microscope. We can make subject groups that bring teachers from different schools together to lift maths, science, and languages. All this becomes possible when there is trust.
But trust cannot grow in a poisoned space. Programs like Teachers for ED destroy unity. They turn staff rooms into places of fear. They silence honest debate and reward only loyalty to a party. They do not help learners. They simply push ZANU PF propaganda into schools. Our classrooms must never be recruitment halls. They must be safe places where every child can ask a question and every teacher can speak truth without fear. Collaboration needs freedom. It needs respect. It needs leaders who listen and systems that serve children, not politicians who think schools belong to them.
Collaboration is also political because exploitation is political. When teachers stand alone, they suffer alone. But when teachers stand together, they are strong. We must speak with one voice in bargaining for fair wages, safe classrooms, and enough books, chalk, and technology. We must be ready for peaceful protests and work stoppages when leaders refuse to listen. We must build alliances with parents, nurses, students, and all workers who want a fair country. When teachers refuse to be divided by area, age, or pressure, they become a force that cannot be broken.
So today we move from celebration to mobilization. I invite every teacher to the ARTUZ Sports Day on 22 November in Gweru. Come to play, but also come to plan. We will prepare for bargaining, organize actions for better working conditions, and strengthen the networks that keep our profession strong. The sports field will become our meeting hall and our promise to stand together.
Our demands are simple and clear. End Teachers for ED and all other partisan programs that break teachers apart. Education cannot grow in fear. Pay teachers a fair wage according to the constitution and stop the loss of talent, because about one thousand two hundred teachers leave the profession every month. Put the rights to collective bargaining and collective job action into the coming Public Service Act so no official can silence legal teamwork or punish honest unity.
To every teacher who shows up even when the cupboard is empty, your passion lights the future. You are not alone. We stand with you against ZANU PF rule that has turned schools into billboards and professionals into beggars. We stand for classrooms full of books, not slogans; labs with real tools, not broken promises; salaries with value, not insults. Let us choose each other. Let us choose collaboration. Let us choose courage. Together we will rebuild dignity and build the schools our children deserve. Happy Teachers’ Day.
