Lectures desert college due to poor salaries

——-A critical staff shortage has hit Kasiya Business and Secretarial College in Pemba district because most lecturers have resigned to join government as secondary school teachers because of lucrative salaries in the public service.

College Principal, White Chisi, says operations of the institution have been crippled due to the mass exodus of highly skilled lecturers who have opted to join government as secondary school teachers.

Mr Chisi says some of the remaining lecturers have threatened to leave and join government even as primary school teachers.

He was briefing Southern province Permanent Secretary, Annie Sinyangwe, when she met heads of government institutions in Pemba yesterday.

The principal said the institution has no capacity to pay competitive salaries to lecturers because of poor revenue generated mainly from student fees.

Mr Chisi said the salaries being offered to lecturers were so poor that it was practically impossible to retain highly qualified staff.

He said although the institution had embarked on various income generating initiatives such as introduction of some training programmes that are demand-driven, its location in a village set up remained a stumbling block as the local community was financially incapacitated to send their children to the institution.

Mr Chisi explained that it was for this reason that government needed to seriously review the policy and address its shortcomings especially for rural based learning institutions.

But the permanent secretary, who was accompanied by regional chief planner, Linda Siwale, advised management to continue exploring other ways of widening the college’s revenue base, saying the same policy had worked so well for other training institutions in the country.

The PS pointed out that issues hinging on policy could not be easily resolved as it required the involvement of government at a higher level.

Ms Sinyangwe, who is visiting districts to acquaint herself with challenges in various government institutions, said reinstating lecturers in colleges under management boards on the government payroll would have serious implications on payroll management as more funds would be needed.