The teacher's plight

Both my parents were school teachers. Naturally, I yield first place to nobody in terms of supporting the interests of the profession. Outside the family, I can barely think of anybody who had a profound impact on my life who was not a school teacher, the most influential being my sub-standard A teacher, Miss Tambandini. I remember a time when teachers enjoyed not only one of the highest standards of living of any large group of Africans in Zimbabwe, but also the admiration of their fellow citizens. I am told that fortunes have been dramatically reversed in recent years, reducing the profession to the laughing stock of the country, ironically all under the watchful gaze of a former school teacher of my parents' generation, one Robert Mugabe.I feel very badly for Zimbabwean teachers. But I find some of the statements attributed to teachers' unions in recent months troubling, to say the least, particularly those demanding unrealistically high remuneration for teachers. Granted, these demands may be little more than bargaining positions, but they are so stratospheric that they border on the ridiculous. If teachers have no sense of where the country's economy is right now, then may be they should not be teaching any one's children.I expect teachers to be the most enlightened members of society; they should demand improved conditions of service by all means, but they should show leadership by making demands that are in tune with the parlous state of the economy. Teachers must realize that any salary increases that have no foundation in economic growth will quickly dissipate, leaving them worse off than they are today. High standards of living cannot be plucked out of thin air, as we have all learned from our recent experience under the myopic and misguided policies of Mugabe and his ZANU-PF.