By Paul Madise
Lilongwe, October 1, Mana; The Ministry of Education has disclosed that the Teachers Council of Malawi (TCM) has licensed over 65,0000 teachers out of 100,000 registered ones as at September 30, 2024.
Public Relations Officer(PRO) for the Ministry, Mphatso Nkuonera revealed this on Tuesday in an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana).
Nkuonera said the teachers licensing has been one of the crucial tasks to be undertaken since the inception of the Teachers Council of Malawi (TCM).
He further revealed the extension of the deadline for the registration and licencing of the teacher’s to 31st December, 2024, stressing that beyond the date, non-registered teachers will not be regarded as teachers,
"The decision to extend the dates has been reached at since the ministry could not manage to register all the teachers who had managed to apply for the licenses during the initial phase which ended in September” he said.
Nkuonera thanked teachers for complying with the law by ensuring that they have the license, observing the initiative will help in guarding the teaching profession.
"We just want to emphasize that the Teachers Council of Malawi was established by the Education Act of 2013 to oversee the registration, licensing and upholding the teaching standards in Malawi, therefore issues of teachers licensing is very important and fall under TCM's mandate," Nkuonera said.
Steve Sherrah, an education expert said the registration of 65,000 teachers signifies the teachers understanding and appreciation of the importance of the initiative.
“This is important because it will enable the Ministry of Education to know who is teaching in the country's classrooms, it will also ensure that only recognised and qualified teachers are allowed to teach” he said.
He said the initiative will also harmonise education standards and the quality of teaching across the public and private sectors of the teaching profession, as well as streamline the career path and progression through continuous professional development.
However, Sherrah appealed to TCM to work on the registration system further by ironing out technical issues that some teachers have complained about.
“Some teachers are still waiting to have their licenses issued months after they registered, the council also needs to move with speed on aligning continuous professional development with license renewal, promotions, and incentives for teachers,” he said.
