By Pemphero Malimba:
Some secondary school teachers who were recently promoted by the government are still receiving old salaries, five months after their promotion was effected by the Ministry of Education.
In February this year, the Ministry of Education announced, through a statement signed by former principal secretary Chikondano Mussa, that it had recruited and promoted at least 9,753 secondary school teachers across the country.
Out of this number, 2,681 teachers were recruited, 2,259 teachers were promoted to grade TI and TJ, respectively, while 3,997 teachers were promoted to senior teachers (grade TH).
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Three hundred and sixteen teachers were promoted to the position of head of department (grade TG) while 500 were promoted to the position of head teacher (grade TG).
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In May this year, the ministry announced that the newly promoted teachers would start getting new salaries in June.
This did not happen, a development that prompted the ministry to convene a meeting with representatives of the newly promoted teachers, where the ministry’s principal secretary Mangani Chilala Katundu assured them that all processes were being followed to effect the new salaries by the end of July.
However, one of the teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were surprised to see that they were yet to get new perks for the month of July.
Chairperson for the newly promoted teachers Diverson Chikungwa also confirmed the development.
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“At the moment, we can say that they are processing the salaries little by little,” Chikungwa said.
He was, however, uncertain on the number of teachers who have started receiving updated salaries.
“There is a certain number of teachers who have started receiving the new salaries but others are yet to start receiving the new salaries but, overall, they [ministry officials] are processing [the salaries],” he said.
On his part, Ministry of Education spokesperson Mphatso Nkuonera said the promoted teachers would start receiving their new salaries soon.
Meanwhile, quality education advocate Wesley Mwambakulu has expressed concern over the development.
“This kind of situation demotivates teachers because they lose confidence and that might affect teaching processes,” Mwambakulu said.
