The grass is not always greener

When the Chronicle says it, no one believes it. It is brushed off as part of the paper’s propaganda campaign to discredit anyone fleeing the economic crisis in the country. But reports that some Zimbabwean teachers who were recruited to Britain are doing menial jobs have now been confirmed by a British paper, the Evening Mail.

This followed the British government’s decision to deport hundreds of teachers recruited from Zimbabwe and South Africa. The paper said hundreds of teachers had been recruited from Zimbabwe, South Africa and India to “solve a classroom crisis” but they had ended up washing dishes.

The teachers were reportedly recruited by a firm called Teaching Personnel in 2001, but when they got to the UK the work had dried up. The paper said the firm had either to make them redundant or return them home. It settled for the cheaper option, allowing them to do menial jobs in the UK.

The deputy secretary general of the National Union of Teachers, Steve Sinott, said: “From day one these people have been treated worse than any group I have ever come across in 30 years of representing teachers. These are competent, highly educated, able teachers who were treated appallingly.” This should serve as a lesson for those who throng the passport offices that the grass is not always greener.

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