Zambian govt concludes 2024 teacher recruitment exercise, says 4,200 positions filled

The Zambian government has completed the recruitment of 4,200 teachers for 2024, covering early childhood, primary, and secondary education.

Education Minister, Douglas Syakalima, announced the development during a media briefing in Lusaka on Wednesday, stating that the ministry did not call for new applications but instead utilised the existing database from the 2023 teacher recruitment process.

The latest recruitment comprised 424 early childhood education teachers, 1,136 primary school teachers, and 2,640 secondary school teachers.

Syakalima revealed that while the government had initially budgeted to recruit 5,500 teachers, overwhelming demand saw 78,000 applications, leading to an additional 2,721 hires, bringing the total number of recruited teachers to 7,222.

“This means we remained with 70,778 applications, which my ministry and the Teaching Service Commission considered against the 4,200 available positions for 2024,” he explained.

He added that 10 percent of the positions were reserved for teachers with disabilities, in line with government policy.

However, only 202 out of the 420 reserved slots were filled due to subject specialization requirements under the new curriculum.

“As you are aware, the government began implementing the new curriculum in February this year, which required us to prioritize hiring more STEM, practical expressive arts, and business studies teachers,” Syakalima stated.

Additionally, 2,400 teachers are being recruited to replace those who left the service due to retirements, resignations, dismissals, and deaths.

Syakalima reaffirmed government’s commitment to improving education standards, particularly under the Education for All policy.

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