Ministry of Education spokesperson Chikondi Chimala, without disclosing time and the amount to be received, told Zodiak Online on Thursday that under a four year $210 million Malawi Education Reform Program (MERP), consultations with district councils are being concluded on how to identify benefitting schools.

Ministry of Education spokesperson Chikondi Chimala, said through a component of MERP project, government is changing the previous arrangement where the allowance was attached to the teacher' salary who continued to receive it even after transferring to the urban schools.

"In this arrangement, we will ensure only teachers that are in the remotest schools benefit as teacher movements will not affect any funds allocated to the school. Someone can move from school to a other school, but that the money will stay at that school because that has been designated as such," Chimala said.

Meanwhile, Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) President Willy Malimba, has supported the arrangement, which he believes would retain teachers in hard to reach schools.

"Those schools that have shortage of teachers they will have teachers because initially the arrangement was that teachers should move from urban or semi-urban to that remotest areas, it was hard for them to transfer to follow that K10, 000.

"So this time around, we are talking that teachers will be motivated with that amount," he said.

Currently, the teacher's hardship allowance is at K10, 000 a month.

World Bank is funding a four-year (MERP) Project, which was launched in July this year with an aim of improving learning environments for learners in lower public primary schools and strengthen management of the education system.