If we all agree that education is a catalyst for the development of any nation, then we should also accept that teachers, at all levels of any education system, are a critical cog because, before addressing the question of a school, you first need a teacher. A qualified one for that matter.<\/p>\n
Teachers teach a nation because they empower people across the social, political and economic divide, including the highest office in the land\u2014the presidency.<\/p>\n
Maybe we can do without some professions but, certainly, not teaching. It is for this reason that we call teaching a noble profession for the simple reason that the contribution of teachers to society is priceless.<\/p>\n
Little wonder, most people speak fondly of either their kindergarten or primary school teachers, for they shape human beings, preparing them to face the world and dynamic challenges that require thinking. Critical thinking for that matter.<\/p>\n
To cut a very long story short, we cannot over-emphasise the importance of education to the development of the country.<\/p>\n
However, the way the authorities treat the teacher in Malawi is very mean.<\/p>\n
This is evidenced by latest reports of a threat by Teachers Union of Malawi that teachers will go on a nationwide strike on June 30 if the government does not pay teachers their arrears.<\/p>\n
The union has issued the ultimatum to the Ministry of Education, Science and technology, whose spokesperson Lindiwe Chide, has deflected the matter to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development saying, in view of decentralisation, the former is now responsible for issues such as teachers\u2019 pay.<\/p>\n
To make matters worse, Local Government spokesperson Muhlabase Mughogho insists that they are only responsible for primary teachers.<\/p>\n
Such statements do not reflect any sense of seriousness and urgency on the matter.<\/p>\n
The two ministries are clearly playing down an issue that should be treated as a crisis-in-waiting, for, if the teachers go a on a sit-in, the whole education system will collapse and the consequences would be dire for the country.<\/p>\n
Do we need to remind the government that such a sit-in, which seems inevitable, will compromise Malawi School Certificate of Education examinations set to start later this week?<\/p>\n
What is disturbing is that it is teachers all the time who have to wait for weeks and months on end before they get their pay, which is not even enough.<\/p>\n
With such an attitude by the government, how does it motivate teachers and arrest the brain drain that has seen most teachers seeking greener pastures in private schools?<\/p>\n
Teachers already suffer a lot as they work under harsh conditions due to poor housing and punishing high student-to-teacher ratio.<\/p>\n
Instead of politicking all the time, the government should, for once, realise the importance of teachers and what their strike could mean to the entire education system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If we all agree that education is a catalyst for the development of any nation, then we should also accept that teachers, at all levels of any education system, are a critical cog because, before addressing the question of a school, you first need a teacher. A qualified one for that matter. Teachers teach a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67203,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67199\/revisions\/67203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}