Namalimwe teachers accused of swindling parents
The meeting between parents and teachers at Namalimwe primary school in Blantyre ended in a deadlock on Sunday afternoon after parents for pupils who learn at the school categorically refused a 100 percent increase on school fund proposed by the teachers.
According to the teachers, the annual school fund among other uses helps in meeting the costs of printing examination papers and paying for maintenance of some of the school strictures.
Education at a primary school level in Malawi is free in public school like Namalimwe.
During the meeting the teachers proposed that the annual school fund which each pupils is required to pay has been raised from MK300 to MK600. But the uproar from the parents forced the teachers to reduce the amount to MK 500.
But the parents also refused this and some of them asked the newly deployed headmistress to explain if the directive concerning the school fund increase is from the ministry of education.
“My problem is that other schools are still charging MK300 per year so where does this 100 percent increase come from?” queried one parent.
But in response the headmistress said this does not concern the ministry of education arguing that it is the issue about the welfare of learners which is handled by teachers and parents.
Swindlers
However, this did not go down well with the parents with some them murmuring saying the school is full crooks. They cited an example of one teacher a Mr Chisale who asked standard five students to go to schools during 6 July holiday and asked them to bring 10 Kwacha each.
However it was learnt during the meeting that what Mr Chisale did was just to enrich himself as the money was collected without the knowledge of the headmistress let alone other staff members.
After being probe further on this one, the headmistress asked all the parents who lost their hard earned 10 Kwacha’s through Mr Chisale’s tricks to report to the school the following day Monday to collect their money.
Most parents left the meeting questioning the practicability of the government’s claims of free primary education.
Anger parents asked the school’s authorities at Namalimwe to just declare that it is private primary school because they say it is the most expensive government primary school in Blantyre as teachers tend to demand money from learners anyhow.
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