Concerned Teachers Asks TUM To Call Off Strike

A concerned group of teachers has asked Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) to call off the strike that is on going across the country.

The grouping made the call yesterday during a press briefing in the capital Lilongwe.

According to Harry Kamwanza, leaader of the grouping, TUM should have fought for salary increment which has been a  concern for a long time than a mere Covid19 risk allowance.

He says TUM should remember that not all teachers are TUM members and the does not please many teachers.

Kamwanza calls on TUM to call off the strike as the negotiations go on.

He adds that TUM has created an in-balance as private schools are teaching while pupils in public schools continue to suffer.

Teachers in public primary, secondary and training schools have been staging a strike since Monday, demanding provision of risk allowances and Personal Protective Equipment-PPE’s in view of the Covid 19 pandemic.

TUM also demanded the immediate recruitment of IPTE 3 and 4 teachers who graduated from various training schools.

The government has managed to recruit the teachers and provide PPE’s and referred the risk allowances issue to the Presidential Taskforce on Covid 19.

A meeting between TUM leadership and President Lazarus Chakwera ended in a stalemate on Tuesday, prolonging the strike.

Minister of Education Agnes Nyalonje however, told parliament yesterday that the demand for risk allowances was pointless.

In a statement issued last night, TUM Vice President Rehema Harid and Treasurer Ernest Chirwa called off the strike.

The two including other TUM members appeal to the teachers to resume work as the government has managed to address two of their demands.

But in his immediate response to the development, TUM President Willie Malimba describes the current stance taken by his colleagues as fishy.