Africa-Press – Malawi. By Nelson Gonjani:
The Mzuzu Industrial Relations Court has ordered that the Initial Primary Teacher Education (Ipte) 18th cohort must participate in interviews for the position of Primary School Teacher, which are scheduled to take place today across all district councils in the country.
The ruling comes as the government plans to recruit teachers in a major effort to address staffing shortages in public schools.
One of the representatives of the Ipte-18 cohort, Dokiso Mvula, said the group had petitioned the government to include them in the recruitment process, citing the inadequacy of limiting selection to the Ipte 14 and 17 cohorts alone.
“We asked the government to consider our cohort, knowing that Ipte 14 and 17 alone cannot meet the target of 26,000 teachers needed across the country,” Mvula said.
He added that they had welcomed the court’s ruling, adding that it would benefit many trained teachers, especially those currently working in private schools or struggling with unemployment.
“We are very happy with this ruling, as many of us have been unemployed. Only a few of us have managed to find positions in private schools,” Mvula said.
Commenting on the matter, education policy expert Victor Chikoti also hailed the decision, calling it a step in the right direction.
Chikoti believes that the ruling will help reduce unemployment among trained teachers.
“This is a positive development. Many teaching graduates remain unemployed, and this decision creates an opportunity for them to join the public education system,” he said.
Chikoti expressed optimism that the government would comply with the court’s directive.
Efforts to get a response from the Ministry of Education regarding the court’s ruling were unsuccessful.
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