The Teaching Service Commission (TSC) has appealed to members of the public with observations concerning the recently-recruited teachers to engage the Ministry of General Education with civility as opposed to rushing to the media with unsubstantiated information.

Clarifying the duplication and missing names of teachers, on the list which was published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of January 11, 2019, TSC Chairperson Stanely M’hango stated in a statement that the Zambia Daily Mail management had been engaged and subsequently reprinted all the names in its January 12, 2019, publication.

“The Commission wishes to inform the general public that some published names in the Daily Mail of 11th January, 2019, were duplicated while others were missing. Daily Mail management has since tendered an apology for the Commission and subsequently reprinted all the names in the Daily mail of 12th January, 2019. The Teaching Service Commission wishes to appeal to members of the public with any observation to engage the Commission and the Ministry of General Education with civility instead of rushing to the media with unsubstantiated information,” M’hango stated.

And M’hango disclosed that applicants living with disabilities were given priority in the just-ended teacher recruitment process.

“The public may wish to note that during the press briefing at the Ministry of General Education Headquarters, by the Acting Minister of General Education, Hon. Elizabeth Phiri, on 10th January, 2019, the criteria that was used to select the successful candidates was explained and to address the concerns that was used to select the successful candidates was explained and to address the concerns regarding those selected who completed after 2015, the Commission wishes to further inform the public as follows: a. All applicants with disabilities who met the qualifications were selected. This includes those who graduated after 2015. This consideration was premised on the fact that persons with disabilities were allocated 10 per cent of the total 2,000 teachers who were recruited, which translated to 200 slots for them. The applicants living with disabilities who completed in 2015 were only 42, representing 2.1 per cent,” explained M’hango.

“However, there were 36 applicants with disabilities who completed after 2015. Therefore, since there was still a balance from their allocation, special consideration included the other applicants with disabilities was made; B. regarding need-based, it was explained that priority for selection of successful teachers was based on those who had qualifications, hence in order to address the needy subject areas, those who completed in 2016, but had qualifications in Chemistry, Agriculture, Science, Biology, Business Studies, Mathematics and, indeed, Design and Technology were considered. The public may further note that selection was dependent on where the applicant applied and the availability of vacancies in a given district.”

The Ministry of General education recruited a total of 2,009 teachers divided as follows: Central Province 239; Copperbelt Province 194; Eastern Province 198; Luapula Province 186, Lusaka Province 129; Muchinga Province 211; Northern Province 198; North Western Province 211; Southern 210 and a total of 222 in Western Province.