CBMP Analytical Report Part 1 - Transparency and Accountability ...

Table 8:
Variable
How teachers cope
with salary delays
How Teachers Cope with Salary Delays
Loans
Send family members to do ganyu
Engage in small business
District Name
Total
Mulanje Kasungu Mzimba
53 31 45 129
0 2 0 22
12 14 9 35
Agriculture 17 76 57 119
Other 9 6 8 23
Total 84 101 89 300
Source: Authors Analyzed Raw Data
The results in the table attest earlier findings that many teachers engage in loans
which in the end have huge interest rates and drive them into perpetual financial
misery. The study findings, as presented in the table above, also add to the fact that
most of the measures taken show that teachers will practice them for a long time and
are off the teaching profession. Hence, without necessarily interpreting the statistical
variations within and among the tabulations, the study concludes that the coping
mechanisms themselves take the teachers off their professional task.
For example, as they get loans, the creditors keep an eye on them to make sure that
they re-pay on or around the official pay day. Any delay (which is out of the concern
of the creditors) makes the creditor lose trust in the teacher and start pursuing the
matter. Thus the teacher starts seeking alternatives and tends to take oneself off
teaching. The issue of loans proliferates more in Mulanje district than others (Mzimba
comes second).
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