THE concerns expressed by the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) over the continued delays in confirming teachers by the Teaching Service Commission after they are employed are well founded.
We are aware and so are the authorities charged with this duty of the frustrations faced by our teachers as they have continued to wait in line while years pass them by to get confirmed.
This puts our teachers in a bad position as they lose to enjoy some of the incentives that come with confirmation like study or vacation leave and God forbid they die without confirmation after serving for many years, their next in kin will have difficulties to claim benefits from the service.
The guidelines clearly stipulate that teachers need to be confirmed six months after getting into the job, but examples abound of teachers who have served even up to 15 years without confirmation.
ZNUT Central Province organising secretary Emerson Pukuma lamented at the increase of the number of teachers serving many years without being confirmed and expressed disappointment with the failure by the relevant offices to help the situation.
Keeping an employee for a long period of time without confirmation or probation is tantamount to casualisation, which the Government has been fighting against.
These are the Government workers and individuals tasked to confirm them, should follow the Government policy and guidelines instead of delaying as it demoralises these teachers which in turn affects the standard of education in the country.
The red tape frustrates the teachers when they follow up these issues with the relevant offices hence we echo Mr Pukuma’s sentiments that school managers, District Education Board Secretaries (DEBS), anyone involved in the channel of confirmation must do their part to ensure any teacher affected by the trend gets the needed help.
We also call upon the affected teachers to make a deliberate effort to follow up the issues as it has come to our attention that sometimes these same teachers do not submit the correct information perhaps it has to do with the issue of fake qualification papers.
A month ago, teachers made unwanted headlines with fake qualifications and more than 500 were found wanting.
This is also an opportunity for the Teaching Service Commission to weed the service of masqueraders  to improve education.
The delay in confirmation does not only affect teachers but it affects the wider civil service.
To work without confirmation humiliates and demoralises our civil servants and this will trickle down to poor service delivery in Government institutions.
The unions should take up this issue with the relevant authorities and ministries in order to arrest the situation before their members find themselves in sticky situations.
It is surely daunting for a rural teacher to chase the paper trail from their remote stations to the DEBS, provincial offices then headquarters in Lusaka.
That is both resources draining and time consuming for both the employee and the Government who are employers. We need to find a way that works for everyone while reducing red tape.