BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
About 120 “unqualified and excess teachers” contesting their redeployment from Community Day Secondary Schools to primary schools at the Hight Court risk forfeiting their October 2010 salaries for complying with a court order, which restrained the Ministry of Education from implementing its decision.
The teachers had on 3rd September, 2010, sought court relief restraining the Ministry of Education through South West Education Division (Swed) from demoting the said teachers and sending them to various primary schools in Blantyre Urban because their services at CDSSs were not needed.
The case was slated for Tuesday, October 19, but lawyer representing the ministry, Dr. Zolomphi, asked for an adjournment because his clients had not served him with the documents in time thereby extending the validity of the stay order.
But the division has allegedly defied the court. It has since “warned of serious consequences on teachers who will not comply with the division’s instructions including withholding of their October 2010 salaries”.
In the affidavit in support of the application, Henry Ntalika, Juff Ajibu, Shadreck M. Salima and 117 others are contesting the decision by their division [to redeploy them to primary schools] because division manageress had no legal authority to reduce them to primary school teachers.
The teachers further argue that the redeployment lacked merit because it was applied on teachers from Blantyre Urban alone. They also say the action by their boss was demeaning besides being tantamount to demotion.
“Our inability to attend institutions of higher learning was not of our own making, but capacity constraints as the institutions. The decision by the respondents, therefore, is irrational, unfair and manifestly unreliable. It was taken without due regard to our right to lawful and fair administrative justice and expectations,” says the affidavit in part.
The members of the teaching profession also argue that they were qualified having taught for several years (some have taught for over 17 years) and attended courses in various fields on curriculum and other areas under the sponsorship of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), among others.
“We’re not aware of any appraisal or assessment or audit (skills) that were conducted to arrive at that decision. As far as our knowledge of the teaching service is concerned, a decision to deploy us cannot be made by the 1st respondent [division manageress], but the Teaching Service Commission on recommendation from appropriate authorities.
She, therefore, acted ultra vires [without legal authority],” the affidavit says.
In an email interview this week, Education publicist, Lindiwe Chide, maintained that the affected teachers are unqualified to handle secondary school pupils.
“These affected teachers are qualified to teach in primary schools, but were deployed to secondary school on administrative arrangement,” Chide said without qualifying her explanation.
Chide said the entry qualification for a CDSS teacher is a Diploma in Education, but the decision to redeploy the 120 CDSS teachers to primary came about following the increased number of qualified teachers the ministry has engaged lately.
“Now that the division has enough qualified teachers in secondary, it has decided to send back the teachers to their original posts. This is the current arrangement and will affect all divisions but will be done in divisional basis, subject to teacher availability in the division,” she explained.
On excess teachers, Chide stated that they are being sent outside the cities to alleviate the shortage of teachers’ problems in rural areas.
“Currently, we have excess teachers in urban centres while rural areas do not have enough. That is why these are being sent to rural areas,” she disclosed.
But Chide trashed the teachers’ assertions that the exercise had affected teachers from the commercial city alone saying the redeployment is a national exercise.
She was, however, noncommittal on the number of teachers likely to be affected by the exercise.
The court is yet to set the date for judicial review, but lawyers from Russel, Smitt and Associates who are representing teachers, are working on another application asking the court to imprision a Mr. C.G. Makhuza for contempt of court.
Officials at the division refused to comment as the matter is in court.
END
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