RECRUITMENT— Kondowe
Disagreements have ensued between government-trained primary school teachers and their mother ministry, the Ministry of Education, with the teachers demanding permanent employment while government feels that is an impossible demand.
The teachers have since penned President Lazarus Chakwera to take action within five days, warning that failure to do so will compel them to camp at the State House.
The ministry has, however, downplayed the calls, saying it is impossible to employ all the teachers at once, adding that it does not work on ultimatums.
In a letter dated September 15 2025, teachers under the Initial Primary Teachers (IPTE) 13 and 14 cohorts claim that K8 billion was allocated for their recruitment in the 2022- 23 national budget but that the ministry is only recruiting less than 2,000 teachers.
“Surprisingly, we have discovered that the Ministry of Education is deploying less than 2,000 teachers against more than 5,000 unemployed IPTE 13 and IPTE 14 teachers. We are, therefore, requesting you to demand [sic] the Ministry of Education to recruit all the stated cohorts,” the letter reads.
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The letter has been signed by the concerned teachers’ chairperson Wonderful Gama, secretary Yamikani Mwaona and spokesperson Blessings Mgundadzuwa.
The teachers further claim that the recruitment of teachers through district councils has been marred with bribery.
“We are very serious on this matter since it has been a long time since we graduated and we are giving you five days to respond to our challenges,” the letter reads.
However, Ministry of Education spokesperson Mphatso Nkuonera told The Daily Times that the K8 billion that was allocated in the 2022-23 national budget was for implementation of different programmes under the ministry— not only recruitment.
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“We cannot recruit all teachers that have been trained at a go. It is a gradual process because it requires huge resources. We appreciate that we have a gap of teachers that needs to be filled so that we [can] meet the standards…
“Giving an ultimatum to the Ministry of Education cannot work. The ministry does not work under ultimatums,” Nkuonera said.
He added that the ministry needs huge resources to maintain a teacher for the whole year and that, as such, the teachers should exercise patience.
Some education sector players, notably Civil Society Education Coalition Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe, have been calling on the government to permanently employ all the primary school teachers to reduce the teacher pupil ratio, which is currently above the recommended 1 to 60 in most schools.
Recently, the Ministry of Education has, through district councils, been conducting interviews to recruit about 2,000 primary school teachers.
