Teachers have described the current government as a failure in addressing their concerns ranging from employment to promotions claiming that most of them across the country were promoted to Grade K, j and I between 2011 and 2012 to date, no promotions.
The teachers say Initial Primary Teachers 13,14, 15 and 16 are languishing in poverty as government is failing to recruit them due to limited resources besides their representatives holding discussions with Ministry of Education officials but to no avail.
They say government has been in the forefront encouraging teachers to upgrade themselves so that when interviews come, they should compete with their colleagues but government is failing to create vacancies in the Ministry of Education.
One of the teachers, Estery Zalimba who teaches at one primary school in Lilongwe Rural, has trashed the statement made by the Secretary for Education Dr. Mangani Chilala Katundu that government will continue to put aside resources to facilitate promotion of teachers.
Zalimba said if resources are not enough, government should close all Teacher Training Colleges until such a time it sees that resources are available to open these colleges observing teachers are being trained for no use.
She said these teachers are paying tuition fees in colleges and it is disheartening to note that after spending a lot in colleges hoping government to recruit them, they are dumped to rot for no jobs in the Ministry of Education.
The teacher said it is not true that the Ministry of Education remains committed to contact and dialogue to ensure that teachers concerns are addressed reminding it of the 2021 Teachers Promotional interviews held across the country, saying many teachers are shaking their heads in disbelief that government is mistreating them.
“For the first time in the history of teachers promotions, successful candidates were being informed of the results of the interviews through phone calls to go to the office to sign new forms that they have been promoted to another grade,” said Zalimba.
She has asked the Ministry of Education to explain to teachers across the country on what happened with the 2021 promotional interviews claiming that others who did not deserve to be promoted found their way in on the list of promoted teachers.
Zalimba said some IPTE 7,8,9 and 10 teachers were promoted leaving behind Cohort 1,2,3,4,5 teachers saying this has demoralized many teachers across the country till this day advising the Ministry of Education to institute a Commission of Inquiry to identify culprits behind dubious promotions of teachers between 2021 and 2022.
By Sarah Gwetsani
