Malawi: Shicks, Shocks, Shoves At Northern Education Division Over ‘Unfounded’ Allegation
A battalion of allegations are haunting the Northern Education Division (NED) following revelations, in the press, that it is engaged in serious acts of corruption, financial and sex abuse, Nyasa Times has learnt.
PIJ reported on Tuesday that NED, one of the six education regions in the country, is embroiled in spates of misconduct including tendencies by some officers to demand sex from female teachers for promotions or money for transfers also known as postings.
But some concerned teachers have responded to the allegations, dubbing them “unfounded” and “construed as works of officers within the division who are disgruntled and frustrated with the shining star that NED.”
According to a statement which Nyasa Times has seen, the concerned teachers say that the allegations are a “desperate attempt to throw spanners in the wheels of this [NED] fast-moving train.”
Reads the statement in part: “These disgruntled and delinquent officers should now eat their humble pie because apparently, they now have a mountain of very serious cases to respond to, serenaded by their baseless allegations which only amount to lame kicks of a dying horse.”
A towering national figure of excellence
The concerned teachers have described NED as a national-class model among the six divisions not only in the performance charts, but also in organizational appeal.
According to the statement, visits by other divisions to appreciate what makes NED a colossus “is an endorsement that NED is an angel from whom all must glean.
“Being accorded the honour of the best organized division, it lives the motto of zero tolerance on corruption and abuse, as these smack of wilderness that ultimately acts as an inhibitor of excellence, now indisputably synonymous with the division.”
It states that with regard to recent performance charts in national examinations, NED has been on the extra mile with no traffic jams, with 58.61%, 58.05% and 60.16% consecutively in 2024, 2023 and 2022 respectively. The same spirit of excellence is imbued in the Public University Selection with a staggering record of 2534 students selected to various public universities in 2025, whereas 1884 and 1434 were selected in 2024 and 2023 respectively. If this is not excellence epitomized, then what is it?”
On sexual abuse, corruption
On allegations of sexual abuse and corruption the concerned teachers stress that NED has a well-knit-together association of NED Female Headteachers [and deputies] Association whose mandate is to recommend if a particular lady professional in the division is truly suitable for a leadership role
“This association grills these lady professionals intensively to ascertain their levels of competence because despite female being their gender, excellence is always their agenda. With such efficient and effective system in place only in NED, where and how would there be sex in exchange for such favours as leadership roles, let alone money for headship? For all intents and purposes, NED remains a resilient embodiment of merit. Furthermore, let it be clearly stipulated that promotion by grade for all teachers regardless of sex is the mandate of the Teaching Service Commission,” reads the statement.
According to the statement, school managers in NED, commonly known as headteachers, unanimously agreed in one of their management meetings to open a NED Awards Account in order to improve accountability of public funds.
“One of the key signatories is the president of the Malawi Secondary School Headteachers’ Association in NED (MASSHA NED), who represents and ably leads all the headteachers in NED. The MASSHA NED president and her committee are a voice of over 300 headteachers of both public and private schools in the division.
“The purpose of the annual NED Performance Awards gala, for which reason the account was opened a few years ago, is to recognize star performers and celebrate excellence. These outstanding performers include teachers, students and headteachers. The other contributions cater for the logistics surrounding the organization of such functions yearly. It is based on such interventions that NED keeps going from strength to strength,” the statement reads, adding that records to support transactions alleged are available for perusal to all those interested.
Further, the statement adds that in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number four, Quality Education, which aims at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, NED subscribes to the policy of equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers of all subjects across the division so that learners, both in rural and urban dispensations, experience the similar quality of the teaching and learning processes.
“This has seen exponential improvements in performances of most rural schools whereas some even outperform those in urban areas. To allege that some teachers buy transfers/postings to urban areas is a smack in the face of all and sundry in as far as delivery of quality education is concerned,” adds the statement.
NED manager Jennings Kayira was not immediately available for comment as we went to press but, in the statement, the concerned teachers say that the Division cannot be fazed by the damaging allegations.
“The mud that NED is being dragged in (financial abuse allegations, sex for promotions, money for so-called favourable postings, inter alia) is but a FIST-PUMP of approval and a badge of honour for all the success registered thus far,” concludes the statement.
By Nyasa Times.
