Citizens First calls teacher job crisis a ‘national emergency’ as 50,000 vie for 2,000 posts

Opposition party Citizens First (CF) has described the ratio of 25 qualified teachers competing for a single job as a national emergency, after the Teaching Service Commission confirmed that 50,000 applicants are chasing only 2,000 vacancies.

Cosmas Mukuka, a member of the party’s Labour and Education Committee, said the figures reveal a failure of planning and political will rather than a lack of demand in schools.

Mukuka said classrooms holding up to 100 pupils show the extent of the need, arguing that the situation undermines the country’s long-term development.

“This is not just a Teaching Service Commission problem. This is a national emergency. You cannot train teachers for four years, certify them, then abandon them,” he said in a statement on Monday.

He added that a nation that fails to employ its teachers “has given up on sustainable development.”

Mukuka said a Citizens First government would address the crisis through four targeted strategies.

He said the party would, within its first 100 days in office, direct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labour and the Teaching Service Commission to activate bilateral labour agreements.

“Our target is to negotiate government-to-government placements for 15,000 Zambian teachers as expatriates within two years. This keeps teachers working, builds international experience and brings remittances home,” he said.

The party also plans to launch “Operation 10,000 Classrooms” through public-private partnerships with churches, mines, farms, individuals and private investors to ease overcrowding.

Under the model, the government would provide trained teachers and curriculum oversight, while partners supply infrastructure and operational support.

To improve rural staffing, Mukuka said a CF administration would recruit more than 20,000 teachers on an internship basis with a monthly allowance, saying no qualified teacher should remain unemployed when rural schools lack staff.

He added that the party would introduce a national reskilling programme through the Ministry of Technology and Education to train teachers in areas such as digital education content development, special needs instruction, early childhood development, coding, agriculture education and TEVET curriculum development.

“To parents: your children deserve a teacher and quality education, not excuses. We will not rest until every qualified teacher is working and every classroom has a teacher,” Mukuka said.

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