A peaceful protest to the Copperbelt Provincial Education Officer – PEO by over 30 teachers has exposed the fact that some teachers have not yet been put on payroll just on the Copperbelt with numbers from the nine other provinces yet to be confirmed.
But an impeccable source on the Copperbelt has intimated that about 5 well known District Education Board Secretaries – DEBs on the Copperbelt – C/Belt have been accused of conniving with the over 30 teachers to source for illegal deployment letters without the blessing of the Teaching Council of Zambia – TCZ a situation which is costing the said teachers as they have not yet been put on payroll but have been working as volunteers.
A source who declined to be named disclosed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT – that about 5 DEBS on the Copperbelt were paid about K20,000 from each of the affected teachers whom they had promised that they would be deployed by government when actually not.
The said teachers were alleged to have been deployed in 2020/2021 and have up to now not yet been put on payroll, stormed the office of the Copperbelt Provincial Education Office (PEO) Dr. Stephen Chishiko to protest over the Government’s delay to place them on payroll.
In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times –ZBT – official union leader who declined to be named said it is not Government per say who has failed to put them on the payroll but the unfaithful DEBs officers engaged.
The alleged 5 Debs officers involved in this matter are from Ndola, Kitwe, Luansya and Chingola all from the Copperbelt.
The source said according to the investigations conducted by the union, the accused officers are also behind the earlier protest conducted by the affected teachers.
“We have Debs Kitwe, Debs Chingola, Debs Luanshya, Debs Ndola and other Debs whom we are yet to establish their names. We want those officers to be disciplined because they have inconvenienced the teachers as they lied to them that they have been deployed when actually not so for that, they need to be disciplined.”
Asked if the affected teachers are still teaching when they are not yet on payroll, the source said, “For now there is no teacher who is working because they are not yet on payroll adding that most of them that are still doing the work, are just doing it as volunteers but deep down their hearts they are not revealing those letters but we have seen a few who have come to say I have just been put on the payroll and this is normally done by the same Debs who connived with them.”
