Cost of Living of Primary School Teachers: The Case of Lusaka Province
Abstract
The main findings of the study are that incomes earned by teachers in government school were significantly lower than those earned by their colleagues in private schools. However, incomes for teachers in private schools were equally low. Measured against their households’ monthly expenditures, many teachers could not afford the barest minimum necessities - food, shelter, transport, etc. The mean monthly net income for teachers was 37.1 percent less than what was required purchase a food basket for a family of six in Lusaka as estimated by the JCTR Food Basket Survey (March 2000). The worst affected were teachers in government schools with their mean monthly net incomes 44.3 percent short of the cost of the Food Basket.
Description
Zambia is currently preoccupied with economic liberalization reforms aimed at putting the economy back on a sustainable growth path. Experience shows that the reforms to date have not had their intended positive impact on the living conditions of the Zambian people. The incidence of poverty amongst the population has been rising. According to the 1998 Living Conditions Survey Preliminary Report of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 73 percent of the Zambian population live below the poverty line. This represents a 2.9 percent increase from the 1996 poverty level. The general conclusion from the report is that the living conditions in Zambia are not improving. Even the working class in the formal sector are not adequately compensated for their labour, especially those in the civil service and the teaching service. The GRZ Economic Report (1999) further concedes that the earnings of workers in Zambia have continuously been eroded by inflation; with the result that the purchasing power of these earnings has been considerably depleted.