Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will recruit 1 100 secondary school teachers from about 11 000 who applied for teaching positions in June this year, leaving about 9 900.
Minister of Education, Science and Technology Bright Msaka said the successful candidates are expected to start work between October and December this year.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Monday during World Teacher’s Day commemorations, the minister said the recruitment is part of government’s efforts to strengthen the teaching workforce and improve the quality of education.
“Teachers are at the heart of Malawi’s human capital development,” he said.
Msaka said quality education depends on well-prepared, competent and motivated teachers and teacher educators, adding that government was strengthening teacher education, continuous professional development and professional standards.
“All professionals, be it doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, farmers, public servants and others, begin their journey with a teacher,” he said.
Msaka said this year’s theme, ‘Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures’, highlights the need to recognise teachers’ contribution to education while protecting and advancing the profession.
In an interview, Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) president Willy Malimba in an interview welcomed the recruitment but said government needed to allocate more resources to the Ministry of Education to address teacher shortage.
“We are asking government that, in the next budget, they should consider putting more money into the Ministry of Education so that we should be able to recruit more teachers because the schools need a lot of teachers,” he said.
Education rights activist Benedicto Kondowe said the recruitment figures demonstrate the scale of the demand for teaching jobs.
This year’s commemoration marks 60 years since the International Labour Organisation and Unesco adopted the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers in 1966, which set international standards on teachers’ rights, responsibilities, preparation, employment and working conditions.
