National Sports

Teachers plan strike for July 9

 

Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) has set aside July 9 to start a nationwide strike in protest against government’s delays to pay teachers arrears estimated at K1.7 billion.

The sit-in may affect administration of the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations which will start tomorrow.

Pupils took to the streets the last time their teachers went on strike

TUM said the strike will involve primary school teachers who get paid through district councils as well as secondary school teachers and teacher training colleges (TTCs) tutors who receive salaries through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST).

On Monday, TUM wrote MoEST and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development principal secretaries, expressing dissatisfaction over lack of progress on the issue.

The letter The Nation has seen is jointly signed by TUM secretary general Charles Kumchenga, president Willie Malimba and treasurer general Ernest Chirwa.

Reads the letter in part: “All these years, government has been talking of auditing as a scapegoat and TUM is tired of being cheated and blame games. Most of these arrears were accrued three/four years ago and would have been paid to teachers sometime back.”

In an interview yesterday, Kumchenga said they will not be pushed back on their decision.

He said: “The only council where teachers have received their arrears is Lilongwe Rural [education district].”

MoEST principal secretary Justin Saidi, who confirmed that there are some councils where verification is in progress for primary school teachers.

However, there are expectations that secondary school teachers and TTC tutors will get their arrears by the end of this month, he said.

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development spokesperson Muhlabase Mughogho said councils received instructions from Treasury in May to re-work their submissions to facilitate processing of the arrears.

But she said the instructions came late.

Last year, the teachers, who constitute almost half of the 130 000 civil service workforce, staged a nationwide strike that paralysed learning in both primary and secondary school teachers after government delayed to pay them leave grants for the 2016/17 financial year.

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