The Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) has withheld its earlier decision to start medically examining markers following discussions with Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM).

Recently, MANEB announced that all teachers selected to mark it’s examinations will be examined to ensure they are in good health, starting from this year, a decision which did not go well with TUM.

Following the misunderstanding, MANEB and TUM organized a meeting on Thursday in Lilongwe where TUM asked MANEB not to implement the policy until TUM consults its members on the issue.

TUM’s Secretary General, Charles Kunchenga, said they are satisfied with the outcome of the meeting, saying the rights of teachers have been upheld.

Kunchenga said: “We have agreed with MANEB to suspend the decision because we feel it is discriminatory and a violation of human rights and I can happily inform all the teachers across the country that the initiative has been suspended until further consultations are made.”

He further said TUM will soon start meeting all the teachers across the country to explain details of the policy and get their views on the matter before getting back to MANEB.

According to MANEB, the decision to examine the teachers was reached at after observing that more teachers who are assigned to mark examinations usually fail sick while inline of duty and others die.

The meeting was also attended by the Independent Schools Association of Malawi (ISAMA), an umbrella body for private schools in the country.