March, 02, 2021 Irate school pupils who caused major traffic disruption in Lilongwe, Malawi as they staged protests to force schools to re-open were dispersed by teargas from the police unit in the city.
Though the government had ordered a re-opening of the school six weeks ago, teachers defied the order demanding to be paid a risk allowance which the government said it was unable to meet. The country was at the time experiencing a surge in covid-19 infections as well as deaths.
Pupils in other parts of the country, joined the demonstration in their school uniforms in collaboration with those in Lilongwe.
Last week negotiations between the government and teachers’ representatives ended without an agreement.
The president of the Teachers Union of Malawi says that the government had called for negotiations to resume on Tuesday.