Maravi

Teachers shackled in debt - Phiri

Teachers shackled in debt - Phiri
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Fri 13 July 2012, 14:00 CAT

MOST Public school teachers in the country are shackled in debt they owe micro-finance institutions, reveals education minister Dr John Phiri. And finance deputy minister Miles Sampa says huge debts distract workers and make them less productive.

Officially closing the launch of the national strategy on financial education for Zambia, Dr Phiri said the heavy indebtedness of the teachers in the country deserves urgent intervention.

He said the government had a huge challenge of freeing the teachers from their indebtedness.

Dr Phiri said the levels of financial literacy among teachers in the country were very low, and that there was need to build a future that will be financially literate.

"We have in the ministry the largest number of civil servants who are called teachers - 77,000 plus, scattered all over the country who may greatly benefit from this arrangement," said Dr Phiri. "Today, the plight of the teacher like many civil servants I guess is that their names are in every micro-finance institutions.

The payslip just confirms that 'yes, you have used your money, and here is the other K200,000 you left behind'. So, the scenario demands urgent intervention and that intervention will go a long way."

And Sampa said the proliferation of easy money for workers to borrow was recipe for under-performance among workers.

He said there was need for the government and private sector employers in the country to find a way of limiting workers' exposure to unnecessary credit.

Sampa advocated for increased financial education of the workers in the country.

"Employees who are financially educated are less likely to get into the financial difficulties which can distract them at work and thus make them less productive," said Sampa.

"It's not unusual to see workers zoom out of the offices to go and seek for kaloba somewhere because they are in financial difficulties, but all they are doing is just making their problems even worse and worse. If they are fully informed and educated, they will find other better alternatives to resolve their problems."

Labels: DEBT, JOHN PHIRI, MILES SAMPA, TEACHERS

posted by MrK @ 2:24 PM