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Tum tasks govt on teachers training
By
Joseph Langa - 25-07-2002 |
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Teachers Union of Mala-wi (Tum) has lashed out at government for its failure to train teachers in the country, a development the organisation says has led to a drop in the country’s education standards.
Tum general secretary Lucien Chikadza said in an interview that the union has written to President Bakili Muluzi requesting to meet him to discuss training of teachers and other issues affecting the education system.
Chikadza said one of the issues on the agenda is to ask the President to avail K1 million for the union to upgrade some of its members to Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) level.
He said the union needs the money to cover a funding shortfall due to an overwhelming response from its members.
Said Chikadza: “We need to train more teachers to [match the teacher-pupil ratio]. Some teachers even lack basic qualifications like MSCE. These are the people we want to upgrade through the association’s training programme.
“We first called on Education Minister George Mtafu on May 15 where we also raised several issues affecting the education system including training. We also told the minister of our intention to meet the President to share with him what Tum thinks is affecting the education system in the country,” he said.
Chikadza said the union has written to the President through the Office of the President and Cabinet.
Said Chikadza: “His office confirmed to have received the letter and it’s the association’s hope that he will invite us any time to discuss the issue.”
Chikadza also mentioned salary delays for teachers, rehabilitation of school blocks and teachers’ houses as some of the issues on the agenda to be discussed in addition to training.
Director of basic education in the Ministry of Education, Joseph Matola, said in a separate interview that the education system has serious flaws, including lack of a training programme for teachers, saying there are few colleges and most of them are in bad shape.
“We are aware that there is a problem in the system, including training. The colleges are inadequate and most of them are dilapidated. We are not able to train more teachers to meet the demand,” he said.
Matola said the ministry is holding discussions with the German Government, which has shown willingness to fund rehabilitation and expansion of the country’s teachers training colleges apart from funding construction of new infrastructure.
“We are discussing with our cooperating partners and it’s not a secret that Germany has shown willingness to assist us. In three to four years we should be able to rehabilitate and expand all our colleges and at least build one more college to meet the growing demand for teachers,” he said.
He added that the ministry has already started training college tutors in the United States of America through a special programme. Eleven have already gone for training, he said.
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