Private school teachers hit hard by Covid 19

Malawi: Mrs Getrude Chalela lost her husband due to high blood pressure caused by the enormous responsibilities that came with being unemployed.

Her husband, a teacher at Athens Private School (where he worked), failed to pay rental bills and feed his family because he was not paid and had no other source of income, resulting in him developing high blood pressure and dying.

"We tried to talk with the school before my husband died to see if they could just help with the house rentals because the bills were piling up, but they couldn't," Chalela explained.

Life became too difficult for the family after her husband died. They were told to leave because they had not paid their rent for months.

Unfortunately, her husband's family was unable to assist them because they were also affected by Covid 19, and they advised her to remain in the village.

She now lives in the village with her four children because she was completely reliant on her husband.

Schools in the country reopened on October 12, 2020, after being closed for seven months due to the Covid-19 pandemic that began on March 24, 2019.

The closure affected everyone from nursery schools to universities. Following confirmed cases of Corona Virus, both private and public schools were closed to prevent the virus's spread.

Fortunately for government schools, teachers were still paid in full during the closure; however, this was not the case for private school teachers.

Malawi has a few well-established private schools that can function independently of student fees.

Most private schools rely on student fees to pay their employees and manage their daily operations.

As a result, the March school closure was a significant blow to private schools, affecting both teachers and students.

Students would have to stay at home for many months, while the closure impacted teachers and other staff members who rely on their monthly salary.

Most private school teachers were paid for only one month following the closure of their schools because the schools were unable to continue paying them while they were not making any money.

Joseph Patel, president of the Independent Schools Association of Malawi (Isama), stated that they attempted to reach out to the government to help the private schools, but the government did not have the funds to assist the private schools.

"In the future, instead of ignoring us, the government should cushion private school employees; the government should have allowed employees to access their pension contributions as soon as the pandemic hit," he said.

Patel also emphasised the importance of private school owners adhering to the Covid-19 guidelines in order to avoid school closures in the future if Covid-19 cases arise.

Chikondi Chimala, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, stated that the government did everything possible to involve private schools in decision-making, such as when schools would open and what preventive measures could be implemented, but that she could not comment further on the bailout issue.

"Not only the education sector was impacted; every circle was impacted." When private schools approached the government,” he said, "we took their requests to the Covid-19 Task Force, which was supposed to investigate their problems because it is in charge of dealing with those issues."

Chimala also admitted that private schools approached them about the matter, but the ministry was unable to provide funding because the ministry was also reliant on the government.

However, just because schools have reopened does not mean that life will return to normal for all teachers because the majority of them have debts to pay because they relied on borrowing to support their families.

A teacher from Kagwa Private School who did not want his name revealed, like many other private school teachers, agrees with the rest.

He admits that life will not return to normal just because schools have reopened, but he is glad they are back to work, despite the fact that the school has told them to sign contracts stating that if something like this happens again, the school will be unable to pay them.

But the big question is whether the government will provide financial assistance if something similar happens again soon or now, given that the pandemic is still ongoing.

Private schools have been knocking on the government's door for several months, but it has not been opened.

Dr Steve Sharra, one of Malawi's education experts, was quick to point out that private schools need to be well prepared if something like this happens again soon.

"I think the government did their part because the private schools' request was for the government to reopen schools quickly and also for the government to bail them out so that they could pay their employees. Schools opened and now the issue of bailing them out is not really an option," he said.

*This story was first written in 2020.