The vacant posts were increasing despite government granting amnesty to teachers who left the country at the height of the economic meltdown,  Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Monday.

A principal director in the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Sibonginkosi Mutasa, said that out of the 111,000 teaching posts in the country, 96,000 were filled by qualified teachers.

The remaining 15,000 posts were vacant and unqualified teachers were also shunning the offers. This negatively affected the country's pass rates.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture deputy minister Lazarus Dokora attributed the shortage to brain drain.

He said teacher training colleges, which were producing 5000 teachers annually, were also failing to meet their target as the number of pupils starting school was increasing.

"The sector is in dire need of qualified teachers. The optimistic view that some teachers would come back has no relationship to reality, rendering the amnesty useless.

"Brain drain has wreaked havoc in the sector. New graduates are leaving for foreign lands and others are joining other sectors. The number of graduates is too low compared to pupils starting school. We receive just above 5000 teachers each year and with this trend continuing, a perfect balance will not be achievable," he said.