Malawi primary school teachers decry ‘unknown’ K100 salary deduction
Primary school teachers in Malawi are demanding an explanation from the ministry of education authorities on the deduction of a K100 from their monthly salary.
According to a pay-slip from one of the teachers which Nyasa Times possess the ministry’s authorities are deducting pay-as-you-earn as an income tax and what they call ‘unknown’ K100 from the salaries.
One of the teachers told Nyasa Times that the deduction of K100 is tantamount to stealing from the teachers who are not only lacking incentives but also the lowest paid civil servants in the country.
Ministry of Education Public Relation Officer, Lindiwe Chide is however expressing ignorance on the issue saying if such deductions indeed occur then they might have been caused by a technical fault.
“As far as I know government only deducts K100 as Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) monthly contribution and this is indicated as such but if the pay-slip shows ‘unknown’ then there should be a problem,” she says.
Chide has therefore advised the teachers to present their concerns to their respective district education managers.
In a related development tutors from Saint Joseph teacher’s training centre in central district of Dedza and Lilongwe teachers college are pushing the ministry of education officials to pay them their six- week unpaid allowances.
One of the tutors who spoke to Nyasa Times on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals said the allowances were accumulated when they were on an assignment in January to supervise student-teachers on teaching practice.
“On such assignments we get a subsistence allowance of K15, 000 per night but we had to use our own money hoping to be paid later, now four months down the line nothing is happening,” said the tutor.
