Crimes against the Future: Zambian Teachers’ Alternative Income Generation and the Undermining of Education

Throughout the continent of Africa, employment in the formal sector has been a much coveted position, offering what people hope will be livelihood security; however, with pressures from international financial institutions and current economic upheaval, formal sector wages are increasingly insufficient to support individuals and families. This article presents preliminary data from an ethnographic study of teachers’ livelihoods, documenting the range of diversification strategies teachers use to supplement their incomes. The authors argue that such diversification, while necessary in the current economic climate of Zambia, undermines teachers’ ability to carry out their primary jobs, and ultimately undermines the country’s educational base. International financial institutions’ creation of economic structures that force teachers to diversify their income generation in effect constitute crimes against the future.