Zambia: The teaching profession in Zambia is set to prosecute around 60,000 non-compliant teachers and staff starting from January 2024, signalling a stringent stance on adherence to professional standards.
The prosecution efforts will be nationwide, encompassing teachers across various regions of Zambia. The decision to prosecute non-compliant teachers aligns with the Teaching Council’s mandate to maintain high educational standards and ensure the quality of teaching in Zambia. This move is expected to enhance accountability within the teaching profession.
Speaking during a media briefing in Lusaka, the Teaching Council of Zambia Registrar Ebby Mubanga said all registered teachers must be licensed as stipulated in the Teaching Profession Act Number 5 of 2013. Dr Mubanga said seventy to eighty percent of the 220, 000 registered teachers are licensed while thirty percent are not.
He called on head teachers in all schools to ensure that teachers are compliant by getting registered and licensed.
Dr Mubanga also clarified that the list circulating on social media in Kawambwa, sent by the Kasama TCZ office, is not a recruitment list but a list of non-compliant teachers in the district.
“A list of non-compliant teachers was sent to all districts so that all districts would check on the compliance status of its teachers. So, when the list was picked up by a member of the public in Kawambwa, they associated the list with recruitment, but the list had nothing to do with recruitment but everything to do with compliance of teachers under the Teaching Council of Zambia,” he explained.
The Teaching Council Registrar encouraged all teachers in public and private schools to remain professional at all times and ensure that they are compliant and understand the government’s policies and programmes. Dr Mubanga further called on the general public to report any malpractice or misconduct by any teacher in their communities.