By Bishop Witmos Chitipa, Mana: Malumbo Community Based Organization (MCBO) which is based at Nthalire in Chitipa District, on Monday donated 40 classroom desks worthy K 2.2 Million to Nthalire and Therere Primary Schools in the District. Speaking during the handover ceremony of the donation, Director for Malumbo CBO, Charles Mfune said the donation is aimed at improving learning environment in schools. Mfune said the organization noted that many schools in Nthalire have inadequate of desks, a development which discourage learners, especially girls from attending classes freely. ‘‘We therefore decided to request for money from Action Aid so that we procure these desks as one of the ways of addressing the situation, hence the donation of the 40 classroom desks to the targeted primary schools. ‘‘As such, we would like to lobby government to prove classroom desks to the other schools in the area to minimize the challenges which learners face when learning while sitting on the floor’’ said Mfune. He said the organization in conjunction with Action Aid advocates for the rights of adolescent girls in Nthalire so that girls are not married at a tender age and that they are able to continue learning up to tertiary level. In his remarks, Head Teacher for Nthalire Primary School, Bentley Mtambo commended the CBO for the donation, saying that the assistance came at a right time when the school had inadequate desks. ‘‘We have 720 learners at this school with 50 desks, as such, we are very thankful to Malumbo CBO for the donation, because the donation will assist learners, especially girl to easily get up to answer questions, a thing which they found difficult in the past,’’ said Mtambo. Speaking on behalf of Director of Education for Chitipa District Council, Lusako Mbale who is Primary School Education Advisor for Kalowe Education Zone acknowledged the problem of inadequate of classroom desks in Kalowe and Therere zones. However, Mbale asked communities in Nthalire to use some of the school improvement grants to procure desks.
Category: Education
M’mbelwa Council says pre-school vital for building responsible society
By Meston Mwafulirwa Mzimba, Mana: M’mbelwa District Council Director of Education, Youth and Sports, Fiddes Msowoya says early childhood development (ECD) service delivery in community- based Child Care (CBCC) centres is vital for building better societies in Malawi. She made the remarks at Dododo CBCC recently in Paramount Chief M’mbelwa during the graduation ceremony of pre-school learners in Mzimba District. Msowoya said pre-school learners from CBCCs are not only prepared for primary school, but are also nurtured into caring, capable and responsible future citizens. “CBCC education builds a solid foundation for lifelong learning and well-being of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs,” said Msowoya. The council’s Education Director also urged parents that keep children with disabilities to send them to pre-schools as a way of promoting inclusive education and relationship building from a tender age. In his remarks, District Social Welfare Officer (Mzimba South), Bernard Nangwale, recommended that the district should train more caregivers to improve quality of education in CBCCs. “There is a considerably huge ratio between the number of learners and trained care givers. Out of 2, 173 caregivers who are taking care of nearly 30, 221 registered children in all the CBCCs, only 935 are well trained,” said Nangwale. He therefore appealed for collaborated efforts from various stakeholders in the district to improve ECD service delivery in CBCC centres in Mzimba South. The graduation ceremony was organised by St John of God with support from Save the Children as a way of inspiring children who are preparing to join primary education. During the ceremony, nursery school learners were given certificates to start Standard 1.
MANEB releases 2021 Primary and Junior Certificate Exams results
By Natasha Muthete Lilongwe, Mana: The Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) in conjunction with the Ministry of Education has release the 2021 Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) and Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) results on Thursday. Minister of Education Agness Nyalonje said she’s impressed with 2020/2021 results since out of seven best performing students in PSLCE, five are girls and only two are boys. “This shows that girl child is working hard to achieve what a boy child can do as it shows that a lot of girls have passed the examination than in the past years,” Nyalonje said. She further said that the government through her ministry is planning to build more boarding schools for girls. “We want to build more boarding school to prevent the girl child from walking long distances to get to the school. “Some of the boarding schools are under construction that anytime soon they will be completed so that our children can have good facilities for education,” Nyalonje said. In her remarks Executive Director for MANEB Dorothy Nampota said out of 270, 576 who sat for PSLC examination, 226, 809 have passed and this represents an 83.83 pass rate. “This year passing rate is the highest in the past 5years,” Nampota said. On JCE, 98, 753 have passed out of the 129, 928 who sat the examination. According to MANEB Director Dorothy Nampota this represents a 76.01% pass rate. “There is no significant variance in the pass rate of the JC examination years after JCE was discontinued,” Nampota said. She further said that 10 candidates have been withheld for contravening regulations but she was quick to say; “We have suspended 10 candidates’ results due to contravening regulations but all in all both examinations were leakage free. She has since advised that all stakeholders with queries to forward their concerns to MANEB by 16th January, 2022. “All those who have queries about their results should contact MANEB by January 16 through their head teachers,” Nampota said. She said students who have been selected to start from one are requested to report to the secondary school they have been selected to on Monday January, 4 2021.
Likoma Community Technical College set to open in January
By Chikumbutso Mfune Likoma, Mana: Technical Entrepreneurial, Vocational Education and Training Authority (TEVETA) has said Likoma Community Technical College is set to open its corridors in January, 2022. During a recent supervision at the Technical College, Regional Manager for the North, Joseph Chikopa said they inspected the works which are taking place as one way of preparation for opening. “I am hopeful that we are going to open the college by January because water connection fee was already paid. What is remaining is to sort out some logistical issues regarding the place where pipes will pass through,” he added. Chikopa encouraged youth of Likoma to utilize the opportunity provided by government and make sure they enroll in large numbers and pursue the vocational training courses. Councilor for Likoma Ward, Ernest Banda commended TEVETA Authority for providing the facility. He assured that local leaders are trying to push and be mediators between the community land owners and government to ensure issue of compensations are dealt with before the college starts to operate.
Malawi incorporates integration of climate change in its curriculum
By Esnath Kalawe Lilongwe, Mana: Malawi is among the first countries to adapt and integrate climate change learning strategy in its curriculum which will help the country to achieve some of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This was learnt on Thursday during a one day Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Country initiative Consultative Workshop which was organised by United Nations Education , Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a Roadmap to 2030. Deputy Director For Quality Assurance in the Ministry of Education, Lindiwe Chide applauded Malawi for being one of the first countries in putting Climate change materials in its curriculum saying other countries will emulate. “We are happy that Malawi is first to respond to this issue in curriculum materials of climate change learning strategy integrating with other programs saying various communities are able to adapt,” she added. She said the adoption will help leaners to fully understand better issues of climate change which she said will help the future generation to manage our environment. “Our focus is on climate change issues, from education perspective we have to ensure that climate change is being addressed. We have developed sourcebooks that are used for both primary and secondary schools on issues of climate change.” Chide explained. Acting Deputy Executive Secretary for Malawi National Commission for UNESCO David Mulera said the workshop was organised to capacitate stakeholders with information contained in the a five years climate change learning strategy . “This is part of the process aiming at capacitating them so that they integrating ESD in the education system as a road map to curriculum delivery that will guide the operations in the implementation of this program,” Mulera said. Mulera said UNESCO is committed to integrate ESD into all levels of education and training from childhood to tertiary and adult education among others. “We empower young people as change agents for sustainable development by creating opportunities for learning and civic engagements. We are also committed to providing skills and tools to participate in ESDs co-creator of individual society transformer, ” he said. UNESCOs work on ESD focuses on five priority action areas including advancing policy, transforming learning environment, building capacities of educators,. Empowering and mobilizing youths, as well as accelerating local level action. Part of the program is being implemented by UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) with funding support from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) called Sustainable Starts with Teachers (SST). It is implemented in 11 countries including Malawi, Tanzania and Eswatin among other countries.
Malawi First Lady stresses on investing more in education of Rural Girls
By Patrick Ndawala Lilongwe, Mana: First lady Monica Chakwera on Monday emphasised on the need for the country to invest more in the education of girls in rural areas saying many village girls are facing challenges that forces them to drop out of school. She said this on Monday in Lilongwe during the signing ceremony of grant contract assistance of K94 Million (USD116,035) between Shaping Our Future Foundation (SOFF) and Japan embassy for the construction of a girls hostel and water facility at Katowo Community Day Secondary School in Rumphi district. Chakwera who is the founder of SOFF said long distance to community day secondary school renders girls vulnerable to sexual harassment adding that girls from poor families face a greatest barriers to education. The first lady also said secondary school girls who are doing self-boarding in rural areas are not safe because they as they face challenges especially at night that make them to drop out of school. “Today is my very happiest day because I know what it mean for a girls to walk long to school. Being raised in the village I know what education means to them. Education motivates girls and changes their live from poverty to a better life,” she said Chakwera said it is sad that the situation in the village remains poor as it was in 50 years ago urging all stakeholders to take action in improving the situations. She described the signing ceremony as a great day in her life as it reminded her old day she used to walk long distances to access education. She said the support is very important to the relationship between Malawi and japan but also to the development of Malawi especially on girl’s education. Chakwera encouraged other organisation to emulate the good example demonstrated by the people of japan by supporting vulnerable girls to complete the education. She said she would be a happy person if many of the village girls are able to secondary education saying: “When they have reached form four they become matured and make productive decisions for the life.” Japanese ambassador to Malawi Satoshi Iwakiri emphasised the need for a better learning environment for students in Malawi especially girls. He said the embassy through grant assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project decided to support SOFF to improve enrolment, retention and completion of secondary school education for girls at Katowo. “After the project more girls will be motivated to stay in school and pursue their education in order to become reliable citizens for their communities and Malawi in general,” He also pointed out that the support provided by government of Japan is in line with Malawi Vision 2063 which promotes human capital development especially among girls in the country. The Japanese ambassador who gave a gift to the first lady commended the first lady for her commitment to improve girl’s education. He expressed appreciation for the good working relationship between Malawi and Japan which he said the relationship is beneficial for people of the two countries.
27 inmates graduates in vocational skills
By Solister Mogha MANA: Twenty-Seven Prisoners from Zomba Maximum Prison have graduated in three vocational disciplines of carpentry and joinery, barbering and tailoring and designs. The inmates graduated on Monday at ceremony held at Zomba Prison Ground. With support from Des Deutschen Volkshochschul-Verbandes e.V (DVV) International, the Malawi Prison is implementing adult learning in Prison Programme that targets inmates below the age of 18. Speaking at the ceremony DVV Regional Director for the Southern Africa, David Harrington said prisons are not places meant to punish people but rather transform them into better human beings. David said considering the fact that prisoners have limited access to education, DVV partnered with Malawi Prison to provide inmates with some soft skills that would enable them support themselves after prison life. “The main objective of this programme is to reduce recidivism. Many people commit crimes again after prison due to poverty,” said Darlington. Apart from the vocational training, prisoners were also equipped with some communication, business and conflict resolution skills for their better integration into the society. Commissioner for Prison Responsible for Administration, Dezio Makumba said the training would apart from assisting prisoners earn a loving after prison help in decongesting Malawi Prisons. Makumba said the reason why many people return to prisons is because they become idle, with nothing economic to do, hence engage in criminal activities. The Commissioner hailed DVV for supporting the programme that would bring great change in regards to Malawi prison service.
70 CDSS in Malawi to receive textbooks through COSOMA project
By Tiyanjane Nandie Mambucha Dowa, MANA: Copyright Society of Malawi (COSOMA) will be distributed for free 70,630 copies of textbooks in 70 Community Day Secondary Schools across the country through a project called School Book Development Project. The project with funding from KOPINOR-Norway was initiated to promote the creativity of authors and publishers in Malawi five years ago and has helped in the production of 70,630 copies of 16 book titles of secondary education in Agriculture, Chichewa, English, Geography and History. Speaking during the launch of the COSOMA School Book Development project products at Mndunje CDSS in Dowa district, the Director of Administration for Ministry of Education, James Manyetera said the project is paramount to his ministry because it has helped to solve the problem of scarcity of secondary school books. “This has a very symbolic importance to our ministry considering that the ministry believes in the delivering of quality education which cannot be possible without materials for both the teacher and the learner. I am delighted that these textbooks will supplement the core textbooks and will be useful tools for teachers and learners as most reliable source of information which is contextualized and up to date,” said Manyetera. In her remarks COSOMA’s Executive Director, Dora Makwinja said the project has registered successes worth noting in achieving COSOMAs mandate of promoting and protecting creativity of right holders. “One way of promoting creativity is by donating books, this encourages people to learn and read which eventually increases number of upcoming writers that joins the industry. The project has encouraged indigenous players in the industry to embrace the educational book publishing using local authors, editors, book illustrators, designers and printers, in a way strengthening the education system in the country,” said Makwinja. Speaking earlier Hans Petter, Deputy CEO of KOPINOR Norway said his organization funded the project with a goal of building capacity and strengthening the publishing industry in Malawi and to demonstrate that it is possible to get high quality and affordable school text books that reflects the locals. The School Book Development Project since its commencement in 2017 has engaged 101 players in the publishing industry on textbook development, editing, designing and printing.
Primary School teachers enhanced wildlife knowledge
By Yankho Phiri Kasungu, Mana: Primary School Teachers from Kasungu enhanced their knowledge about wildlife and aquatic animals. The Teachers were drawn from nine primary schools in the district on Saturday and Sunday toured Lake Malawi and Liwonde national parks in Mangochi and Machinga. The teachers who are Patrons of wildlife clubs in their schools supported by Lilongwe Wildlife Trust Project called Protected Area Environmental Education Programme (PEEP) which is under implementation in Kasungu embarked on the tour to appreciate the tourist attractions of the country. One of the teachers from Kaswamchenje Primary School, Thokozani Chabwera said the project has inspired them to organize the trip which has been helpful and insightful. “As patrons of environmental and wildlife clubs in our schools, we thought it wise to organize this trip in order for us to see and witness something that we have just been reading or being taught during trainings. “What we have seen from the two wildlife protected areas is very exciting as most of us have seen some species of wild animals for the first time, our learners will be imparted with real facts from us as we have experienced,” he said. Lilongwe Wildlife Trust Environmental Education Officer, Mphatso Banda applauded the teachers for the initiative saying it was a good development and a success story to them. “It is exciting news to us because we have been encouraging these teachers to visit other national parks and game reserves, what we wanted is that they should have a broad experience so that they can teach relevant information to leaners,” she said. Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) Head of Environmental Education and Extension Services at Kasungu National Park, Mathias Elisa thanked the teachers saying what they have done shows that people have now realized the need of visiting such places. “This is a plus to us as far as the tourism industry is concerned. Local people like them making initiatives own their own to visit different tourists attraction places is something we have to be proud of,” he said. The teachers came from for Chulu, Kaphaizi, Linyangwa and Kavizinde zones who are along Kasungu National Park.
Learners speak out against corporal punishment
By Andrew Magombo Lilongwe, Mana: Representatives of students from primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions have lashed out at teachers and parents who are still using corporal punishment despite the vice being outlawed in recent years. The development came to light on Tuesday in Lilongwe as the students deliberated in a panel discussion on child protection in and through schools during the launch of a two-day high level advocacy meeting The learners complained that many teachers resort to corporal punishment as the primary resort when settling misconduct of a student. It was further revealed that some of the punishments do not tally with the alleged offences as some teachers go as far inflicting serious physical injuries. One of the panelists, Tendai Mdoka, said some teachers make them crawl a distance of 100 meters on rough surfaces. He bemoaned the tendency alleging that the punishment are not fair in the simplest sense as some learners endure long distances to reach school premises. “We sustain serious injuries due to these punishments and this makes some of us to stop attending school because we live in fear,” said Mdoka His claim was backed a Malawi Police Service representative at the meeting as well as a recent Malawi Human Rights Commission report on corporal punishment in the country. For instance, a Ndirande Primary School head teacher slapped a ten-year-old female student 15 times for being late. Unfortunately, she collapsed on the spot and ever since then she intermittently loses her consciousness. Similarly, at Mthema Primary School, a 15-year-old was subjected to regular dubious corporal punishment by her teacher in the aftermath of denying sexual advances.. In her remarks, Minister of Education, Agness Nyalonje, said violence against children will not be tolerated under her watch as the malaise is crippling the education system due to high levels of school drop outs. The minister added that it is embarrassing seeing young learners coming out to report such cases yet they are public officers who are paid by tax payers’ money to ensure that children are learning in safeguarded environment. She said: “A child has to leave home safely, learn safely and return safely which is our responsibility to guard these children jealously because whether it happens at home, at school or in between, we are mandated to protect them.” “For the sake of our children, let us help them with integrity as such I urge all key stakeholders to partner with us as government so that together we can move with a stronger voice and rigorous efforts which will eradicate violence against children.” Board Chairperson of Civil Society Education Coalition, Dr Limbani Nsapato, said there is laxity in enforcement of child protection policies hence an increase in cases of abuse and violence. He said: “We need to popularize these policies because many people are not aware of the basic tenets in child protection which translates to a continued rise in cases of abusing children in various forms including corporal punishment.” This year’s meeting was supported by other stakeholders like UNICEF, World Vision and Save the Children under the theme “Together for safe and nurturing school environment.”