Government says it will be promoting teachers every year and will always make sure their grievances are addressed.
Minister of Education, Science and Technology William Susuwele-Banda made the remarks in a ministerial statement on Friday.
Banda said government is aware that teacher motivation is critical to the promotion of quality education hence promotion of deserving teachers will be done annually so that vacancies created by those promoted are filled.
He added that the ministry will ensure that leave grants are paid in time and that arrears arising from promotions or other causes are paid to rightful recipients.
According to Banda, over the past year the ministry promoted 22,000 teachers.
Banda also said plans are at an advanced stage to recruit more teachers with the aim of lowering the teacher-pupil ration which is currently at 70.
“The amount of work being handled by teachers in class is quite enormous, and is self-defeating on our aspirations of achieving quality education at that level,” he said.
The minister added that construction of three Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) is expected to be completed in August next year in order to allow first intake in September, 2020 and each TTC will host 600 student teachers.
“You may wish to be informed that prior to the DPP led Government, there were only five TTCs across the country,” he said.
The minister then called on Malawians to safeguard the development taking place in the education sector and contribute positively to this development.
“Let us honour our teachers for the good work they are doing. His Excellency the State President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika wants to see that Malawi has an educated nation for sustainable development,” he said.
