The college has in the past had to turn away qualified applicants due to a high number of applicants wanting to train as teachers.
 
Some members of the administrative staff who spoke to Zimeye on condition of anonymity said a total of 250 students 190 female students and 60 male applied for the 2008 enrolment.
 
The number is far less than the average 450 students per intake which the college has had in the past.

A final-year student at the college said her class, which enrolled in 2005 has 470 students.
 
In the past, prospective trainee teachers would use bribes to secure a place at the college.
 
When this reporter visited the college to look for a place as a trainee teacher, I was told to bring the requisite educational certificates and be enrolled immediately, as there were vacancies still open.
 
Veteran teacher and Progressive Teachers Union provincial co-coordinator Willie Muringani said he is not surprised that people are shunning teaching.
 
"Teachers used to be held in very high esteem, and they were looked up as role models. Over the years government has been neglecting teachers and they have become paupers. Instead of being seen as role models, they have become a laughing stock," he said.
 
The apparent shunning of the teacher training programme is coming at a time when trained teachers are leaving the country in droves in search of better prospects in western countries and the region.

PTUZ Secretary General Raymond Majongwe was recently quoted saying that last term 25 000 teachers left the country.

The brain-drain has negatively affected the country's education system, once considered the best in sub-Saharan Africa.
 
Teachers countrywide are currently on strike and in the past few years they have been going on strike every term demanding better salaries and conditions of service.