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Teachers in Malawi say a comprehensive teacher policy is critical
The teacher policy in Malawi is very timely and will be critical in addressing most of the challenges teachers have been facing in the country. This was the view of teachers and other stakeholders at a teacher conference held recently in Lilongwe.
The conference, held in early June in Lilongwe with the title: Teachers, Education policy and practice in the time of COVID 19: opportunities and dilemmas aimed to review, reflect and discuss the draft national teacher policy and draft Continuous Professional Development (CPD) implementation plan; and to share experiences and explore effective ways of continuing teaching and learning in the context of COVID-19 and future emergencies.
James Manyetera, Director of Administration within the Ministry of Administration said 鈥渢he ministry will continue to work hard to ensure that Malawi鈥檚 educational policy frameworks put teachers, as implementers of the curriculum and facilitators of learning, at the centre of ensuring access to and quality of education".
Misheck Munthali, Director of Teacher Education and Development (DTED) said 鈥渢he policy will help push the Ministry鈥檚 agenda to ensure that we are improving conditions for teachers and addressing teacher issues by motivating and professionalizing the teaching force.鈥
UNESCO supported the development of the draft teacher policy through the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI) project.
Simon Jan Molendijk, UNICEF鈥檚 Chief Education Officer acknowledged that 鈥渢his initiative provides a platform that will bring teachers together to address critical issues and inform policy framers on what is practical and how best we can improve issues affecting teachers on the ground鈥.
Ms Chifuniro Kamwendo, a teacher said 鈥渢he policy is coming at the right time and will help overcome critical issues like career pathways and working conditions of teachers which have remained hanging for so long鈥.
The conference brought together about 170 participants including teachers, teacher managers, policy makers, curriculum specialists, researchers, development partners and civil society activists.
It consolidated inputs to the draft teacher policy and CPD implementation plan in the context of emergencies and allowed participating teachers to share experiences on effective ways of continuing teaching and learning in the context of Covid-19 and future emergencies.
