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By Saidi Winnes
Civil Society Education Coalition(CSEC) has faulted Tonse led-administration for taking the issue of teachers’ grievances with reluctant attitude and little consideration towards the repercussions of the stalemate.
CSEC’s Executive Director and activist Benedicto Kondowe has disclosed this through the Education Hub, which is a column that discusses education related issues.
In his remarks, CSEC’S Executive Director is faulting government for taking slow pace in responding to the grievances of teachers.
” The government should have been proactive in responding to their grievances instead of waiting until, the situation escalated out of control.It calls into question why government is so reluctant at best and nonchalant at worst when it comes to engaging teachers on their grievances; uttered Kondowe.
Activist has added that is high time that teachers must be able to bargain as the rest do, and be subject to negotiation and given the dignity of proper contact and dialogue.
However,Kondowe has challenged both Teachers Association of Malawi( TUM) and government to brainstorm on the consequences of school closure since, last year the country recorded 15,000 early marriages, and 40,000 teenage pregnancies due,to the same course.
” TUM and government should loot at the bigger picture in terms of the repercussions of their standoff. Typical of the saying, when two elephants clash it is the grass that suffers, the students are ultimately the biggest losers in this case; challenged Kondowe.
Over 2-weeks,teachers in the country are boycotting work, demanding government to give them Personal Protective Equipments( PPE’s), as well as risky allowances.
