Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) has welcomed government plans to promote special needs teachers who were recruited from 2016 to 2018.
On Monday, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Joseph Mwanamvekha presented the 2019/2020 National Budget where the education sector has been allocated K172.8 billion.
Speaking on Wednesday, TUM General Secretary, Charles Kumchenga said Special Needs teachers will benefit from K1.7 trillion national budget.
“Some of the teachers completed their studies with diplomas while others with degrees in 2016, 2017 as well as in 2018. Some of them are teaching in secondary schools while others are teaching in primary schools.
“Unfortunately, most of them are teaching in primary schools. So you may find that teachers with high qualification earn low salaries. This budget will help government to promote and allocate them to where they are supposed to work,” said Kumchenga.
TUM has also requested government through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to consider different areas of special needs.
“Through the money that has been allocated to the education sector, government should think of special needs classrooms, teaching and learning equipment and special needs’ teachers,” he said.
He said lack of laboratory and laboratory equipment in secondary schools is one of the biggest challenges teachers face, especially in Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS).
“This is the case because for the past years, government did not put much consideration on CDSSs. In addition, some of the teachers that are in CDSS are under qualified,” said Kumchenga.
This, according to Kumchenga, affects Malawi School Certificate Examination (MSCE) results, hence the need for government to train under-qualified teachers to minimize the problem.
Source: Mana
