By Staff Reporter
In its quest to improve the delivery of education services in the country, the Ministry of Education ( ME) says it is setting up a special teacher’s council to help the move.
Deputy Minister of Education Monica Ching’anamuno said this during the official opening of Teachers Union of Malawi ( TUM) congress held on Saturday May 28,2022 at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.
Ching’anamuno said the main function of the council is to register, deregister and license teachers, promote professional and ethical standards in the teaching profession, and to advise the Minister of any matter related to education.
She said” As I stand here, all preliminary process have been finalized.
” I will be failing in my duty if I do not mention the aspect of teacher morals and ethical standards.
” When they say the quality of an education system equals the quality of its teachers, does not only speak to academic competences but also to moral values, ethics and attitudes,” she said.
She said the discipline of teachers in any education system goes a long way in calculating a culture conducive for the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes.
The Deputy Minister said she is aware that TUM will join her Ministry to help in developing the said Teachers’ Code of conduct which is due to the destination.
” I am reliably informed that TUM is ready to accompany my ministry on this journey of ensuring that teachers in the system abide by the highest code of conduct as stipulated in the tool which was consultatively developed,” said Ching’anamuno.
On teachers promotion, the Deputy Minister said the Ministry is aware that promotion of teachers has been another challenging area in the education system as there is still a large number of teachers that have served on one grade for a long time without a promotion.
She assured that her Ministry has commissioned a functional review to open up spaces at the entry level as well as opening up spaces in the ranks above the entry grade in order to allow for upward movement of teachers through promotional interviews at local councils.
She disclosed that some district councils have already started the interviews and teachers await results.
” My Ministry will ensure that teachers who are successful in their interviews are issued their letters of promotion and that they begin to get their new salaries on their new grades timely,” assured Ching’anamuno.
This year’s TUM congress was being held the theme ‘ TUM makes us strong, Resilient and Purposeful Driven’.
