MARTIN MAWAYA
HARARE-Schools reopened countrywide yesterday amid calm classrooms but rising labour tensions, with the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) warning that 2026 will be a decisive year for salary restoration and improved working conditions.
In a statement to mark the reopening of the new academic year on Wednesday, ZIMTA president Akuneni Maphosa said teachers had shown “extraordinary resilience” by continuing to deliver lessons under harsh economic conditions characterised by low wages, rising living costs and deteriorating work environments.
“Teachers have carried Zimbabwe’s education system on their shoulders for far too long,” Maphosa said, signalling that the union was preparing for a tough collective bargaining season.
While welcoming the start of the school year and commending teachers, school heads and learners for reporting for duty, ZIMTA said the return to classrooms should not be mistaken for contentment.
“Our teachers are not just professionals, they are patriots. They educate under pressure, serve under strain, and they deliver under duress. 2026 must be the year that their dignity is restored and their labour is properly valued,” Maphosa said.
ZIMTA said it would enter the 2026 collective bargaining cycle with a “militant” national mandate, pushing for a living wage benchmarked against inflation, regional salary trends and the poverty datum line, as well as the restoration of salaries to their pre-2018 value.
Other key demands include improved working conditions, adequate teaching and learning resources, and sustainable welfare and medical support systems for educators.
The union has declared itself “mobilised, organised and ready to negotiate from a position of strength,” a stance likely to heighten tensions between government and teachers, whose salaries have been repeatedly eroded by inflation and currency instability.
“The reopening of schools today is not just the start of a new term, it is the beginning of a decisive year for the teaching profession,” ZIMTA said.
The association also announced that it would intensify its “Go Public Fund Education” campaign in 2026, arguing that increased public investment in education would have ripple effects on communities and the broader economy.
The largest teachers association urged teachers to remain united, disciplined and actively engaged as negotiations unfold, reiterating its commitment to defending the rights, dignity and economic justice of educators.
The government has in recent years faced periodic standoffs with teachers’ unions over remuneration, with educators often threatening industrial action at the start of school terms, a pattern that could resurface as wage talks gather momentum this year.
