By Staff Reporter
Teachers have said Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torerai Moyo is offside in speaking out against corporal punishment following a rise of indiscipline in schools.
Speaking during a Teachers Day in Kwekwe recently, Secretary General of Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Ptuz) Raymond Majongwe said there is need to enforce discipline in schools and corporal punishment is the way to go.
“As long as we remove corporal punishment from the classroom, from the school, you have destroyed education,” he said.
Majongwe described recent utterances by Moyo on corporal punshiment as tragic, as the Minister condemned corporal punshiment.
“Its a tragedy that the Minister of Education who is barely three weeks in office, who is still a virgin in the ministry is now saying corporal punishment is an offence, Minister you are offside,” he said.
Majongwe added that even President Emmerson Mnangagwa has seen the need to effect discipline in schools.
“The Presdient is saying we must discipline these children not for the sake of it, but becasue he is seeing the collateral damage happening in schools,” he said.
Majongwe said parents who are supporting the removal of corporal punishment in schools do not have the future of the country at heart.
“Before you address issues of challenges faced by teachers you are already attacking teachers. Those people who are in support of this know that kids are already damaged goods or they dont care about the future of the country,” he said.
The trade unionist added that schools are now hot beds of indiscipline.
“If you go to any shcool in Harare  or anywhere in Zimbabwe now, we have learners who are already high on drugs. We have learners who are partaking sex sessions in schools and you want us to accept that, that is totally unaccpetable. As teachers we have a role to make sure that we build the country, morally and socially,” he said.