The Ministry of General Education has embarked on a countrywide validation programme on teachers countrywide. Permanent Secretary (PS), Henry Tukombe says this is following the revelation of 500 unqualified teachers in the country who are on payroll. The validation programme will soon be done throughout the country to check on the validity documents of teachers. Meanwhile, PS Henry Tukombe says the government is concerned with the leaking of confidential information to the social media.

Mr Tukombe says the leaking of confidential information is a serious breach of the professional code of ethics and warned erring officers of stern action. The Permanent Secretary raised the concern when he addressed Provincial Education Officers (PEOs), College Principals, members of the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and the Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ) among others at the ongoing national teachers recruitment programme at Kabwe Trust in Central Province yesterday.

Mr Tukombe advised the teacher recruitment team to uphold confidentiality and avoid leaking premature information to the public until the final compilation.

He said the 2017 teacher recruitment was aimed at bridging the gap in rural and remote parts of the emphasizing that only candidates meeting the criteria in the guidelines are selected.

The PS said the recruitment, placement and deployment of teachers in schools will mark a milestone in achieving the ministry’s intentions of ensuring that service delivery in hard to reach schools across the country. Speaking earlier, the ministry’s  Director of Human Resource and Administration Greatson Chipalo said 2,500 teachers will be selected from the 30,800 applications received.

Mr Chipalo said over 500 candidates have since been selected and assured the PS that the team will meet the deadline of December 31, 2017 for the recruited teachers to be initiated on the payroll. He said the team was working hard to select quality teachers who will help to move the vision of the ministry forward.