Polytechnic students will have to await a little longer to be back in class as the call by their lecturers for a 30% pay hike has been snubbed by the University Council.
The whole of last week, the lecturers at the institution in Blantyre have been on striking demanding a salary hike from their employers – a development that saw the students relive the time they were not in school for about two months last year after a heightened row on students allowances.
But in a letter, the University Council has advised the lecturers to stop the strike saying they are not enough funds to meet their needs.
The Council cites that the sought hike would see a lot of projects at the institution stall as funds are being required to run numerous activities at the school.
It also cites that the hike would be demeaning as the economy continues to stumble and that it would also be an insult to Malawians who are the tax payers.
It states that in 2014-15 academic year, it gave in to the request by the lecturers by making a 33% hike in their perks.
The Council while acknowledging that the lecturers have a right to make such a call, it has asked lecturers to report for work by 30th March and that those who do not must see their names filed to the council.
However, Malawi24 has highly been informed that the lecturers will stick to their ground on the request for the hike,something which would see the students remain out of class for a longer period.
Last the institution’s school calendar year got disturbed again when it sealed after a disagreement between the students and school authorities on loan payment led to student riots.
The students were then called back to the institution a month later.
i dont give a damn
A Council tulutsilanitu vacancy ya ma lecturer just in case the lecturers refuse to go back to work. Let them go and start their own businesses for them to appreciate what it means to be an employer.
The lecturers are justified. All employers need to wake up from slumber and respond to increasing inflation. Osathawa udindo iyayi. Kodi inu a Council simukuwona zimenezi? Osathamangira ma press release iyayi.
If I were the lecturers, I would continue the class boycott. I am actually informed that the Authorities reneged on their agreed pathway to salary raises they agreed with the lecturers in December 2014. There was no increament in July 2015 as agreed in the pathway and efforts to negotiate have largely been ignored. Universtiy Council and Management on the other hand are busy kukonza kapansi by massaging political egos, awarding undeserved and shameful PhD Honaris Causas to score cheap points and divert attention from real issues affecting unima. That MUST Lectures have better salaries than Unima doesn’t bother anyone. The problem with Malawi is that we are used to cheap Labour and we think university education is cheap. We can raise packages for uneducated politicians without a whim. We can’t run a proper university with such pathetic working conditions and remuneration packages!
In that case,We shall see this sch calendar disturbed as well and,its not only the lectures but the entire civil service needs salary revise to meet the market costs.