The Second Deputy Speaker of the Malawi National Assembly hon Dr. Clement Chiwaya irked the Parliamentary Education Committee on Thursday evening when he ruled that the Secondary School Teachers petition on ‘delayed promotion’ be referred back to education committee.
Regarding the urgency of issues raised in the petition, the relevant parliamentary committee, Education Committee had wanted to send the petition directly to the Teaching Service Commission which deals with the Teachers conditions of service through the Minister of Education Science and Technology after it was presented in the house for a quick solution.
Honorable member for Mzimba North Constituency and Vice Chairperson for Education Committee of parliament, Agnes Nyalonje presented teachers petition in the house on Thursday afternoon but the ruling implore that teachers grievances will remain unsolved for a while.
360 Secondary school teachers who upgraded themselves through doing various courses including diploma and degree courses signed the petition which was handed to National Assembly through the committee on 13th May 2015.
Teachers stated in their petition that they want to be promoted and gave Ministry of Education up to the end of the month of May to give them promotion failing which they are going to down tools country wide until they get the correct response.
Before Hon Nyalonje finished reading the petition in the house, wanted to present the committee recommendation that the petition be referred to the Teaching Service Commission because matters therein are urgent. However, the Second Deputy Speaker for more than three times, interrupted and guided the honorable member to follow the rules by refer the petition to the relevant committee which in this case it is back to the Education committee.
According to Parliamentary Standing Orders, the Member presenting the petition may move that it be “referred to a Select Committee”
Hon Nyalonje and the committee accepted to follow the ruling and referred the petition back to her committee.
However, in an interview Hon Nyalonje could not hide her disappointment over the ruling. She said the committee felt and recommended that the necessary procedure was to ask the whole house to refer the petition directly to the Teaching Service Commission.
Hon Nyalonje said she “personally felt it was unfortunate” for the house to take that lengthy path which may only worsen problems in secondary schools which already have shortage of teachers.
“There is authority mandated to deal with the issue and that matters raised have a sense of urgency to that. As such if we know who is to deal with them what is the point referring it back when the committee in its wisdom as the committee entrusted with education knows that this petition should be dealt with in this manner?” questioned Hon Nyalonje
“Referring this petition to the Education Committee is a way of delay the solution of the issues contained in the letter” Said hon Nyalonje who feared that teachers may take an action which may disturb school calendar if their grievances remain unsettled as quickly as possible
“The Parliamentary Committee on Education Science and Technology was used as a conduit to present the petition to this house and get it to the right authority to deal with this issue.” She observed
“We in the committee felt that this petition instead of wasting time; referring to the committee which is not mandated to deal with it, it should go straight from the House to the Teaching Service Commission through the Minister of Education who should then be mandated to present a response in the house within 14 days.” She said
The teachers petition made four demands that; That promotion be done “promptly dating to the day” they graduated, paid arrears in full a month after effecting the changes in their pay slips, be refunded the money that was used to pay for fees arguing that ‘condition of service are clear that when one undergoes training the responsible ministry will pay the relevant allowances including a study leave.’
The petition further demands that their years of service should be taken into consideration for promotion into appropriate grade, as the delay into giving them the grade that they deserve made them miss the opportunity to attend the interviews that were done by Teaching Service Commission.
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