THE Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has made claims at least 128 members are dying across the country each month as a result of stress emanating from their meagre salaries and poor working conditions.

In a statement shared with NewZimbabwe.com, PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou claimed that two teachers die in each of Zimbabwe's 64 districts every month.

"Poverty and its resultant psycho-social effects are killing many teachers across Zimbabwe," said Zhou.

"There has been a quantum leap of suicides, fatal domestic quarrels and divorces as a result of poor salaries in Zimbabwe.

"Our research has shown that on average two teachers are dying in every district every month because of poverty and psycho-social stress. Cumulatively, 128 teachers are dying every month and 1,536 every year."

Civil servants locally have been at loggerheads with their employer since the reintroduction of the Zimbabwean dollar in 2016.

From earning US$540, their wages were heavily eroded in the new monetary dispensation as the Zimbabwe's RTGS dollar was wiped away by market forces.

At one time, teachers, police officers, nurses and other employees within the same ambit earned as little as US$100 before the introduction of Covid-19 allowances during the pandemic.

Added Zhou: "There is an urgent need to intervene by the line ministry, Public Service Commission (PSC) and government to ameliorate the high rate of attrition.

"The intervention must be in form of paying teachers a living wage rather than the current starvation wages they are receiving.

"President Emmerson Mnangagwa will go down in history as a President that caused the death of many teachers in Zimbabwe through starvation."

Teachers' unions are, however, not in agreement on how much they should earn. While PTUZ wants an immediate return to their 2016 salaries of US$540, others such as the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union (ARTUZ) demand the salary hiked to US$1 000 from the current US$300.