Zambia: IMF's weak response to Global Campaign for Education report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2 2004

Civil society "disappointed" with IMF's weak response to Global Campaign for Education report Undervaluing Teachers: IMF policies squeeze Zambia's education system The IMF's response asserts that they have placed no explicit limits placed on hiring of teachers or health workers. This is disengenuous. The PRGF target on the public sector wage bill made it inevitable that there would be an immediate and severe impact on Zambia's ability to both hire teachers and award pay rises. This ignores poverty reduction imperatives and political realities in Zambia.

The response then goes on to rehearse arguments about the need for Zambia to demonstrate fiscal discipline as a precursor for economic growth and poverty reduction. For the fund fiscal discipline means Zambia paying more back to the IMF this year than they spend on Education whilst teachers cannot be employed.

Fiscal discipline is critical but will not be achieved spending more on debt repayments to the IMF than on education. We believe that this merely strengthens the core argument of our paper which is that the MDGs are being de-prioritised by the IMF in Zambia. The Managing Director of the IMF, when asked by a journalist [Lucia Fry] on Saturday about the teacher shortage crisis in Zambia, admitted that he was not aware of the situation. But even a Zambian child could explain the problem. No teacher means no learning means no hope. Will they ever learn?

Lucia Fry and Max Lawson, Global Campaign for Education Spokespeople The GCE's report is available at:
http://www.oxfam.org/eng/pdfs/dc041001_undervaluing_teachers.pdf