Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union (ARTUZ) has called on government to stop ‘abusing’ its members who are fighting for labor justice but rather focus on fixing the national ‘crises’.
The union’s president Obert Masaraure told 263Chat that he is tired of the government’s consistent persecution of its members who are fighting for labour justice and inclusive access to education.
“We remind the government of the day that they are duty bound to protect the rights of all citizens, the rights are clearly articulated in the bill of rights of our constitution.
“Instead of persecuting our members government should invest in arresting the national crisis,” said Masaraure vowing to keep on fighting for the right to education in Zimbabwe.
He added that 2021 will be a year for escalating the ‘#SaveOurEducationZW’ campaign both online and offline which was launched recently to ‘mourn the death of’ Zimbabwe’s education system.
Meanwhile, some of the union members have so far faced arrest and conviction while demonstrating against low wages.
Masaraure said pupils are being robbed of the right to education while castigating the move by government to force examinations on pupils who last attended school in March last year.
“The government wants children to sit for exams but schools were closed in March last year, what do they expect these pupils to write about, they never learnt anything, it is unfair to them,” he said.
Masaraure suggested that the pupils should re-start the whole six months which they lost due to coronavirus induced lockdown.
