When teaching is a curse

As Malawi joins the rest of the world tomorrow in celebrating World Teachers’ Day themed A Call of Teachers, some teachers who feel stuck, dumped and forgotten—a calling lost.

Among classical Greeks—about 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ—teaching was a noble profession.

It has not changed today.

Perhaps, what has changed is that there has been an increase in the flowery adjectives used to describe teaching. Some describe it a ‘valuable profession’ while others say it is a ‘calling’.

Unesco has themed this year’s World Teachers’ Day as A Call for Teachers.

“Teachers are the most powerful force for equity, access and quality education—a call for teachers means calling for quality education for all,” reads the statement on the Unesco website.

But at Nansinjo Primary School in Blantyre Rural, 47-year-old teacher Getrude Kanyoza, feels that everything about teaching boils down to a curse. For Rose Kanjo, a teacher at Lirangwe Primary School in Blantyre, the story of is not different.

Kanyoza and Kanjo, though separated by space, share depressing stories about teaching which capture what it means to be a teacher in Malawi.

Temporary start

Both started as temporary teachers: Kanjo in 1997 and Kanyoza in 1994. This was around the time government introduced free primary school education in the country, which increased enrolment tremendously, leading to unprecedented high teacher: pupil ratios. Thus, government was forced to employ temporary teachers, most of whom went through crash courses to qualify instead of the usual two-year training that primary school teachers undergo in teachers training colleges.

The two say they respectively taught for six years as temporary teachers after joining the profession with a Junior Certificate of Education as their qualification.

“We never had opportunities to upgrade. So, we continued working hard as we waited for our turn,” says Kanyoza.

Being temporary teachers was not motivating for them. It meant, in the event of death or any misfortune, the two could not qualify for any benefits. It meant receiving meagre salaries, much lower than the low salaries that teachers receive. Simply put, it meant they were on wage labour, locally known as ganyu.

But after years of patience and hard work, luck came into their way. Kanyoza became a qualified teacher in 2000 and Kanjo in 2003. They had each gone for a six-month training at Blantyre Teachers Training College to achieve the status of PT4.

“It was good,” says Kanjo, adding: “It was, to me, a symbol of greater things to come in my profession.”

Stuck in time

After the qualification, Kanjo and Kanyoza, to date, continue to wait for greater things to come.

“I have now taught for 12 years and I am still on PT4. I feel stuck. I am not moving forward,” says Kanyoza.

Kanjo, who has been a qualified teacher for 10 years now, does not have a different story either.

“I am still on the grade I was in 2003. No refresher course. No professional development. No promotion,” she says.

Yet, there is something surprising about the two. They appear to be comfortable with their situation because there are other teachers that are more aggrieved than them.

“I have colleagues who have worked for 25 years on the same grade. I feel I am better off,” she says.

It is not that the two have never had a chance to get promoted. They have each attended interviews once and both were not successful. But, they feel, given their loyalty, dedication and experience, they deserve a promotion.

“I have taught many of pupils. Some are university graduates working and doing quite well,” says Kanyoza.

Teaching to survive

In all their years of teaching, Kanjo says she has seen the worst of the profession that is described as noble.

“All along, I have been teaching in Standard One. This year, I am handling a class of 105 pupils. Teaching in such an environment is not easy. You spend most of time disciplining the pupils than the actual lesson,” she says.

She adds that teaching is hectic because there are many things that teachers have to do.

“We prepare lesson plans and schemes. We have to do the actual teaching and marking. Then comes the learning of new teaching methods, which are being introduced often.

“And despite all this, we get a meagre salary that does not even meet our basic needs,” says Kanjo, who is lucky to be among five teachers at Lirangwe with school houses.

Kanyoza, who teaches a Standard Six class of 75 pupils, stays about five kilometres from her school.

“Every working day, I pay K500 for transport. But that is if I have money. Most days, I walk. The challenge is that when I walk, I am already tired by the time I arrive at school. This affects my delivery of lessons,” she says.

Moving on

A lot has been spoken about improving education in Malawi.

A message posted of their website, director general of Unesco Irina Bokova says this year’s theme acknowledges that quality education offers hope and the promise of a better standard of living.

“There is no stronger foundation for lasting peace and sustainable development than a quality education provided by well-trained, valued, supported and motivated teachers,” says Bokova.

He adds that worldwide, there is a huge shortage of professional, well-trained and well-supported teachers to achieve better quality education.

“The challenge of recruiting teachers does not lie just in the numbers, but in the provision of quality teachers. Far too often teachers remain under-qualified, poorly paid and with low status,” Bokova adds.

It is for such reasons that teachers feel their voice has not been heard.

“As teacher, I am at the heart of education. I know what is needed but when teachers speak, nobody listens. The success of our education rests on motivating the teacher,” Kanyoza says.

She explains that there is a lot of talk of about learner-centred teaching, but with the country’s high teacher: pupil ratio and the poor motivation among teachers, Malawi is not likely to achieve quality education.

Kanjo says teachers do not need much.

“We need better salaries. We need more teachers. And most importantly, we need to see a clear career growth path. Most teachers are not dedicated because they feel the profession is not profiting their lives,” she says.

What Kanjo and Kanyoza say is in line with what Bokova says.

“Teachers’ professional knowledge and skills are the most important factor for quality education. This World Teachers’ Day, we call for teachers to receive stronger training upfront and continual professional development and support,” he says.

He says this needs to be done now because there is a huge shortage of professional, well-trained and well-supported teachers to achieve better quality education.