The Ministry of Education (MoE) has warned that only 82,000 registered and licenced teachers, out of over 100,000 practitioners that offer services in the country, will be allowed to teach in schools this academic year.
The ministry says those who will be allowed to practice were, by December 31 2024, registered and licenced by the Teachers Council of Malawi (TCM).
The registration exercise targeted primary and secondary school teachers, teachers’ training college tutors, early childhood development (ECD) centre caregivers and administrators.
In September last year, the ministry extended the registration period to December 31 2024 to accommodate teachers that were yet to register.
MoE spokesperson Mphatso Nkuonera told The Daily Times that, going forward, no teacher without a teaching licence would be allowed to teach across the country.
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“We would like to remind the remaining teachers to understand that the Teachers Council of Malawi was established by the laws of the land.
“Therefore, no teacher will be allowed to get in class and teach, or start teaching, without being licenced. As such, teachers that have remained have an obligation to immediately register themselves and get licenced; otherwise, they remain unrecognised,” Nkuonera said.
He said through the Department of Quality Assurance, the ministry would be inspecting schools to ensure that unlicenced teachers are not working.
“This department has inspectors that will be going around and, once any teacher is found practising teaching without a licence—as you are aware that it is illegal to teach without a licence—there are laws that will guide us on the same,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Teachers Union of Malawi (Tum) President Willy Malimba has urged the government, through TCM, to extend the registration period.
The union says some teachers failed to register due to internet connection and other challenges.
“Some of the teachers were not willing [to register] before the cutoff date. They were waiting for the last day of the exercise to register. Others were trying to register online and found that there was a problem with the online system.
“The line was congested and, at other times, there was a breakdown of communication between the teachers and Teachers Council of Malawi officials,” Malimba said.
He has since asked for an extension of the registration period.
“Teachers Council of Malawi should come out clearly on its position to teachers who have not registered because, looking at the situation, many teachers have not registered.
“As at now, there are over 20,000 or 30,000 teachers who have not registered. As such, we are asking TCM to come clearly on what next to do. In actual sense, we are requesting the Teachers Council of Malawi to extend the registration period,” Malimba said.
Civil Society Education Coalition Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe concurred with Malimba on the need to extend the registration period.
“It is important to extend the registration period. Some considerations have to be made to make sure that all the remaining teachers are encouraged to register.
“There could be [justifiable] reasons why some teachers did not register. So, they should not be naive and think that they can stamp their authority on teachers and leave out teachers who are already in the system,” Kondowe said.
He said barring those that have not registered was not ideal, considering the shortage of teachers in the country.
TCM was established to oversee the registration, licencing and adherence to teaching standards in Malawi.
