Teachers in Zimbabwe are relying on handouts from their students' families as fears grow that the country's education system could collapse completely, according to an international teachers' union that launched a fund-raising appeal this week.
Many teachers, who are struggling to survive on salaries as low as US$2 a month, can no longer afford to go to work, said Education International, which supports teachers around the world.
Thousands of teachers have emigrated to escape the country, which has been devastated by rampant inflation and a cholera epidemic.
The number of teachers in Zimbabwe has shrunk from 150,000 in 1995 to 70,000 last year, EI says.
Teachers are now paid about 26 trillion Zimbabwean dollars a month, equivalent to about US$2, said Dennis Sinyolo, a former secretary general of the Zimbabwean Teachers' Union who now works as EI's co-ordinator of education and employment in Brussels.
'The whole salary is in most cases not even enough for the bus to and from school for more than a day,' Mr Sinyolo told Education Post.