Some teachers defy Tum sit-in declaration

Primary and secondary school teachers in some schools in Lilongwe were still teaching Monday morning despite Teachers Union of Malawi (Tum) declaring a national sit-in.

Tum declared on Thursday evening that teachers in the country would withhold their labour effective yesterday, in protest against the government’s failure to pay them their 2016/17 leave grants.

In schools such as Area 47-based Mkwichi secondary and primary teachers attended classes normally but there was a bit of confusion on what was happening at Chigoneka Community Day Secondary School (CDSS).

At Chigoneka CDSS, teachers attended some of the very early classes for the day but some learners insisted their teachers were not attending classes.

In other schools, however, learners were forced to knock off earlier than expected as their teachers could not attend to them.

In schools such as Muloza CDSS, Muloza Primary, Chiwoko Primary, Masintha CDSS, Masintha Primary, Kawale CDSS and primary learners went home early.

In Mchinji and other Central Region districts, there were reports of division among teachers as some teachers were teaching while others within or without the same schools were boycotting classes.