Malawi Develops COVID-19 Guidelines for Education Institutions

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), has developed guidelines on COVID-19 pandemic to help education institutions manage the disease during school time and on holidays. 

World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11 due to over 118,000 cases of illness in over 110 countries and territories around the world and the sustained risk of further global spread.

The education ministry in it's guidelines issued on yesterday, 17th March, 2020 has urged institutions to follow the prescribed checklist for the prevention and management of the Coronavirus in order to help the protection against infection of learners, students, staff and the general public.

Future On Chanco Opening Begins Tuesday

The University of Malawi Council and the Chancellor College Academic Staff Union (CCASU) says they have finally identified the main problem prolonging their dispute and expresses hope for the fruitful discussion on Tuesday next week and make progress to end the dispute soon.

Concerned parties disclosed during media briefing on Friday in Lilongwe that failure to meet and cordially discuss their matter has been one of the major obstacle in the process of resolving the ongoing industrial strike by academic staff which began on March 20, 2017.

Hon Namasasu Pays Hard Working Pupil, Teacher With Luxurious Treat

 

(From Left to right)
Teacher Makwakwa, Hon Namasasu
& Faines

Young girl, Fainesi Kamanga, and her former English teacher, Evelyn Makwakwa Mahimanya, the Lilongwe City South-East Constituency’s 2016 Malawi Primary School Leaving Certificate Examination (MPSLCE) best student and teacher respectively, got an extraordinary treat on Thursday, of a luxurious return flight from Lilongwe to Blantyre and a shopping galore voucher from legislator, Bentley Namasasu as recognition for their outstanding achievement.

Ministry Of Education Hail DAPP For Training More Female Primary School Teachers

The Ministry of Education has commended Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) Malawi for taking lead in increasing number of role models for girls by training more female primary school teachers in their Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs).

Soya Milk Improving Leaner’s Turnout At Masangano Junior Primary School

Masangano junior class pupils receiving Soy Milk from
one of the mother group leaders

Masangano Junior Primary School in Malumo village, T/A Malumo in Ntchisi district had been experiencing number of school dropouts and this worried the head teacher for the school Mr. Andrew Kalikuni.

According to Mr. Kalikuni, at the beginning of 2015-2016 academic calendar, the school registered 106 pupils for class of Standard 1, but on average he said only 50 to 60 students were coming to school and attending classes.

Pres. Mutharika Order UNIMA Tuition Fees Reduction By K50,000

President Peter Mutharika has ordered University of Malawi to reduce the tuition fees by K50,000 after meeting with the University of Malawi Students Union (UMSU) at Kamuzu Palace on Thursday.

This is across the board reduction for all students on generic and mature programs at the University. For generic students paying the minimum fees this means a 12.5% reduction while for mature students paying minimum ranges of fees this is a 5.4 % reduction.

UNIMA Council Firm On Fee Hike Stance

Stakeholders who participated for
the briefing for the UNIMA Council 

Council of the University of Malawi (UNIMA) says it will not overturn tuition fees raise in order to return the strength and recognition of its Degrees in Europe and America as well as home companies. 

The Council told stakeholder’s in Lilongwe on Tuesday evening when briefing them on developments related to the rise of tuition fees in the UNIMA that the revised fees are necessary to improve quality of education which at the moment has gone down.

DAPP In Service Training Programme Promoting Innovation

Teachers now use TALULAR
(Teaching And Learning Using Locally Available
Resources)

Mrs. Carolyn Kafodya Linje a teacher for standard 2 at Mzumazi Primary School in Lilongwe rural has been teaching for 19 years now. Like many other primary school teachers, her every day teaching routine had been reading in front of the pupils and writing on the board and nothing more.

Visual Learning Excites, Makes Learners Understand Things Very Fast

Lilongwe Primary School Demonstration Teacher
using real visual materials in class 

Children learn fast in an environment where they are able to visualize information. They understand better and return information when ideas and words are associated with images.

Addis Ababa University To Honor President Mutharika

Addis Ababa University of Ethiopia has decided to honour His Excellency, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika with an award of Degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa.

The Addis Ababa University of Ethiopia to honour Malawi President His Excellency, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika with an award of Degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa, the Malawi State House office has announced.

Addis Ababa University To Honor President Mutharika

Addis Ababa University of Ethiopia has decided to honour His Excellency, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika with an award of Degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa.

The Addis Ababa University of Ethiopia to honour Malawi President His Excellency, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika with an award of Degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa, the Malawi State House office has announced.

Machinga Boarding Secondary School Project Underway-Ministry Of Education

Lonely Magreta: Ministry is constructing
Boarding secondary 

The Ministry of Education Science and Technology has assured people of Machinga district that they will soon have a boarding Secondary School.

People in Machinga district especially young people are demanding construction of a boarding secondary school as the district is currently the only district without boarding secondary school since Balaka which was part of Machinga was declared a district, making Balaka boarding Secondary School inaccessible to pupils from Machinga.

At the moment, pupils from Machinga who access to boarding schools are only top students selected to competitive National Government Secondary Schools like students from all other districts, however, mid-level students from the district are selected to Community District Secondary Schools and Community Day Secondary Schools unlike in other districts where mid-level students go to boarding District Secondary Schools and only third tier students go to Community Secondary Schools.

Speaking to the Parliamentary Committee of Education over the week, Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Education, Lonely Magreta assured that the project for the construction of district boarding Secondary School is underway in Machinga.

However, she admitted that financial challenges in terms of allocation of funds for the project are not adequate and therefore this is causing delays to complete the project in good time.

“The delays are not necessarily for Machinga district only” she added, “Projects in other districts are facing similar problem in terms of allocation, resources are not adequate to complete the projects but we hope that more resources will be provided in the coming budgets.”

Magreta explained in an interview that construction for Boarding Secondary School in Machinga is being done in phases. She said at the moment they are constructing teaching area, staff houses and multipurpose hall.

“And then as we continue the next financial year and possibly the other financial year, we will go to the next phase where we will start constructing the boarding facilities.” assured Magreta

“The policy of the Ministry of Education is that each and every district is provided for in terms of various categories of secondary schools to reduce the distance being covered by the students to where they have to commute but also to ensure that there is increased equitable access to secondary education by the students in each and every district” said Magreta

The project for the construction of Machinga District Secondary School began in 2014 At Chabwera village in T/A Sitola in Liwonde.

People in Machinga have been complaining of the progress of the project and lack of information if indeed the project is a boarding secondary school or just a Community day secondary school.

One of the youth groups leading the campaign for the construction of the Secondary School in the district is a group of students from the University of Malawi called ‘University Students Association of Machinga’ (USAM) which has described the situation as "Injustice" to people of Machinga.

Jonas

Jonas Matope, President for the USAM said absence of district secondary school is causing numerous problems among students in the district.

“Our issue is that we want to have a boarding Secondary School in Machinga as is the case with other districts in Malawi.” He said

“It is a known fact that the quality of education in community day secondary schools is very low.” said Matope “ this selection of the second tier group of students in Machinga into community Day Secondary Schools affects their ability to compete for college places."

He added that lack of boarding school is not only subjecting alot of students in the district to walk long distances every day to reach their community day secondary schools, but also increasing school dropouts among girls who in most cases get pregnant when they leave home to do 'self boarding' in communities nearby their schools.

Matope said the concerned youths in the district are suggesting to government that due to delays in the construction of Machinga Boarding Secondary School and looking at challenges students are facing, it is better that Government should consider turning Machinga Teachers Trainig College (TTC) into Boarding Secondary School for the district until such a time the project of constructing a fully functional boarding school is completed.

“We would like to have Machinga TTC be used as Secondary School while we wait for the completion of the said Secondary School that Government intends to construct.” concludes Matope who vowed that his group is set to persue with their stad if there will be no progress in the construction of the boarding school.

Self-Upgraded Teachers Wants Automatic Promotion Not Interviews

Mzura

Teachers who are seeking promotion after having ‘self upgrade’ to Diploma and Degrees levels are now demanding for automatic promotion and not undergo for interviews.

This comes when Ministry of Education, Science and Technology officials announced on Wednesday during a round table meeting between Parliamentary Committee on Education and the delegation of Self Upgraded Teachers that ‘a round’ process of promoting upgraded teachers has begun but will have to passing through interviews.

Secretary for Teaching Service Commission, Richard Kayesa informed the Committee and Teachers that the Ministry began the process of promoting teachers in March this year with invitation of applications from all upgraded teachers to fill-in the vacant posts and that the list of successful candidates has been released to the public and interviews will begin from Monday next week until May 11, 2016.

Although, Chairperson for Self Upgraded Teachers, David Mzura, made acknowledgement that teachers have applied for the advertised posts, but reacted that the interview process was not the actual promotion arrangement that self-upgraded teachers were supposed to go through.

He said “We are not satisfied with the decision that has been made because they have followed wrong procedure. At pre-graduation meeting at Domasi College, we were told to submit our copies immediately after graduation so that we could be promoted immediately.” added “We submitted 20 copies to the division soon after graduation”

One of Self Upgraded Teachers also commented saying the interview policy came later after they issued a petition in 2014 to the ministry seeking clarification. The concerned teacher further observed that the ministry is applying the policy selectively because despite them being subjected to interviews, others have recently been promoted without interviews.

When the Chairperson for the committee, Elias Chakwera, asked the ministry to clarify about the interview Policy, Director of Human Resource in the Ministry, Joyce Somanje said interview policy is not new development but only that teachers did not know that the policy exist. She said every person in Civil Service who wants promotion after upgrading goes thought the same process and “It is a normal policy and requirement that teachers cannot be exempted from”

The officials from the Ministry of Education also indicated that it is not automatic that one who upgrade can be promoted because there are a lot of people now upgrading and therefore the ministry cannot accommodate all of them at once.

“We were asked to submit the copies of certificates for us to be promoted automatically and this is not what is going to happen.” Insists Mzura later in an interview

The total number of teachers eligible for promotion are in four categories; 1,500 Secondary School teachers (Grade TI), 220 Teacher Training College (TTC) Lectures (Grade TI), 1,700 Secondary School Teachers (Grade TJ with Diploma in Education) and 300 Principal Primary School Teachers-Special Needs (Grade TJ with Diploma).

The concerned teachers also fear that the interview policy will see many of them being left out since the ministry wants to promote very few.

According to figures from the Ministry, there are only 483 vacancies for the post of Secondary School Teachers Grade TI against a total of 872 applicants invited to compete for the post while for the post of TTC Lecture Grade TI, there are only 50 vacancies yet 116 applicants will compete for the post.

And 586 applicants have been invited to compete for the post of Secondary School Teacher Grade TJ which has 516 vacant positions while 229 applicants have been invited for the post of Principal Primary School Teachers-Special Needs Grade TJ which has only 169 positions.

“If you have seen the statistics they have given us, you will find that a large number of teachers will not have a chance of being promoted to the next grade. And they have to wait for another four years to be promoted’’ Observed Mzura

‘’So, if you are a worker and you are demotivated, how are you going to work effectively?’’ wondered Mzura,  ‘’And therefore when we are saying that quality education is being affected in Malawi this is one of the issues that is causing this because teachers are being demotivated.”

He then said they will continue holding discussions with the Ministry in order to find ways how the problem can be solved.

He however encouraged fellow shortlisted teachers to continue with the interviews and urged other self-upgraded teachers to join their group so that they can speak with one voice.

Malawi Government Commends UK Government For Connecting Classrooms Programme

Michael Nevin, Vincent Ghambi, David Mundell 

Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has hailed Government of United Kingdom (UK) for its education progamme ‘Connecting Classrooms’ for being one strand supporting Malawi in improving education.

Connecting Classrooms is a UK’s programme which is benefiting individuals and institutions globally through research, links and scholarships.

Vincent Ghambi

Speaking at the launch of the third phase of the programme in Lilongwe, Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Vincent N’gambi said the programme will support development of core skills of young people and help teachers to impart necessary skills to students.

“If people from UK they come and teach our students and our teachers trained by the British Government, this is indeed good development as far as education in Malawi is concerned” he said

The education minister hailed the programe's new phase focus on attainment of Core Skills and said the launch of this third phase of Connecting Classrooms coincides with the introduction of the new curriculum for secondary schools this school year and further wellcomed the focus for thennext three years of the programme on working with Secondary Schools sector. 

Vincent Ghambi exchanging gifts with
David Mundell

"I believe it will make a valuable contribution to two priority policy goals of improving quality and equity in the secondary schools and improving management of secondary schools. Connecting Classrooms will support teachers to introduce young people to new ways of working, new ways of thinking, and new ways of living in a global world. It does this by providing opportunities for education professional and policy makers to contribute to education discourse in national, regional and global forums, supporting system development and through the provision of continuous professional development opportunities for teachers and school leaders"

He underlined that the opportunities for international collaboration for both teachers and learners in Malawi and the UK brings forth additional benefits saying as it offers early exposure for our young people to the outside world and help foster a natural curiosity and deeper understanding that will benefit their future engagement with the world of work, higher education and communities in which they live.

“As Government we are doing a lot to make sure that this UK Government is gets full support from my Ministry and Malawi Government” he added

David Mundell

The visiting Scotland Secretary of State David Mundell who also graced the occasion said was delighted that the programme has began to bear fruitful results through partnerships that schools and teachers have established with their friends in the UK. 

“What this initiative mean is to link schools in Scotland and the rest of Britain with schools here in Malawi and it means teachers can share experiences with teachers back in Britain and that pupils in Britain can get a real feel for Malawi  and the self support that they can give to Malawi and schools. And that is real sharing of experiences so that both sides came out of this better than they went into it”

“Friendships have been developed between Scotland teachers and Malawi, friendships have developed between pupils who had opportunities to go between schools. I know from my own constituency schools that have a very strong links now with schools in Malawi” said Mundell

He also urged Malawi Government to further enhance the programme by making sure that more schools are involved in the Connecting Classrooms programme

“I think that it is good to see that there is spread of schools across the whole of Malawi because obviously it is quite different in the South and cities in the North so I think it is very encouraging to see that there are schools in rural areas, schools in towns and cities taking part. So am pleased that there is whole range of schools and when I look at the list of schools in Scotland I see that they got from very north of Scotland to the South of Scotland cities and rural areas. So there is good range of schools and experiences in there.”David Mundell

There has been a lot of schools who have already been in the previous phases of connecting classrooms initiative and more are coming in this phase and it is expected that more schools will want to join in the programe because of the benefits.

Daniel Mkandawire, Mary Mount Catholic Secondary School Crowned Best In Old Mutual Maths Olympiad

Daniel Mkandawire of Nkhotakota Secondary School emerged as the best student and Mary Mount Catholic Secondary as the best school, during secondary school Mathematics competition dubbed “Old Mutual Maths Olympiad”

This year’s (2016) Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad National Competition attracted 167 participants from 58 schools across the country representing 18 districts and drew to a close on Thursday.

This year, each school was allowed to send a maximum of three participants and out of the 167 participants, 64 were female and 103 were male.

As part of its corporate responsibility, Old Mutual—a long-term savings, protection and investment Group which provides life assurance, asset management and unit trusts in the country—sponsors the competition as a way of promoting interest in Mathematics among secondary school students in the country. This highly competitive competition is done in partnership with Mzuzu University’s department of Mathematics.  

Secondary school students across the country sit for a number of Mathematics examination papers aiming at identifying the 'crème de la crème' of Mathematics in the competition. 

After gruelling three examinations, Daniel Mkandawire of Nkhotakota emerged as the best student and was awarded K70, 000 cash prize together with a scientific calculator, while other 24 best students also walked home with cash prize, a scientific calculator and a certificate.

The competition had three stages. All students took a preliminary exam on Monday, 11th January.  A total of 75 qualified for semi final examinations which were written on Tuesday, 12th January. Out of these, 54 were male and 21 were female.

The top 25 students wrote the final exam on Wednesday, 13th January. 8 females made it into the final against 17 boys. 

This year, the Department of Mathematics also ranked the best Mathematics schools. This was dependent on the performance of their students. The score obtained by a school was the total score obtained by its representatives at all stages of the competition.

The best three schools this year were Mary Mount Catholic Secondary School, St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School, Kasungu Secondary School, Chaminade Secondary School and Mzuzu Government Secondary School.

Public University Students Petition Parliament; Demands Adequate Funds For Loan Board

Students Union Leaders from Public Universities on Thursday afternoon delivered a Petition to Parliament, demanding for adequate funding for the newly established Higher Education Students Grants and Loan Board to enable it include more needy students to access to loans.


The Board’s national fiscal budget allocation is currently at K1.5 billion and has released names of beneficiaries.


However, Students Union Leadership says the number of beneficiaries is very small comparing to the situations on the ground at the colleges, left so many other deserving students so desperate for the help of the Malawi government for their education.

Hon Nyalonje (middle) 

Hon Nyalonje listening to the petition 

The petition which is only making three demands was presented to the Speaker through Vice Chairperson for the Education Committee of Parliament, Hon Agnes Nyalonje. 

Davis reading petition 

When reading the petition, Davis Jiva, Secretary General for the Students Union at the University of Malawi Polytechnic said the Students Union Leadership wants government to double the budget allocated to the Board so that a lot of needy students are able to access to the loan.

He also indicated that, due to inadequate funds at the Board, a good number of students on the list of beneficiaries have been underfunded. 

"Some students have just been given fees only but lacking stipend (money for food and accommodation). Statistically, the Malawi polytechnics with a population of about 3,000 only 96 have been allocated with up-keep allowance; Chancellor College with a population of 4,500, only 90 students have been allocated stipend." He said 

He explains; "For example, tuition fee at University of Malawi is K275 thousand, some students have been given K165 thousand as tuition fee. So the question is where would the needy student going to get the remaining money to pay for the tuition fee?"

Other two demands in their petition, the students wants to be consulted and involved to allow the Board to understand some of the in depth understanding of the students and that there should be a review of the Higher Education Students Grants and Loan Board Act to provide a section where the role of students unions should be clearly stated.

The petition also observe that the Board has released the names of the beneficiaries without seeking consultation and that there is no communication on the date to which loans will be disbursed to individual applicant a delay which is causing some students to be withdrawn from the colleges.

"For example, a student from LUANAR whose mother's source of income is kachasu, withdrew from university because she could not meet costs for accommodation, meals and tuition." Reads the petition

Students Union Leadership demands the National Assembly to work on their petition within 2 weeks so that needy students are not subjected to 'no fees no registration' policy.

Receiving the petition Vice Chairperson for the Education Committee of Parliament, Hon Agnes Nyalonje promised to deliver the letter to Speaker and help the students on their grievance.

The Petition has jointly been signed by University of Malawi Students Union Council, Mzuzu University Students Representative Council, Lilongwe University Agriculture and Natural Resources Students Union and Malawi University of Science and Technology Students Union.

Government abolished stipends to all public universities and introduced Higher Education Students Loan and Grants Board where students can apply for the tuition, stationary and upkeep allowance. However, the Board admitted that due to limited funding it will be difficult to consider all applicants for the Loans and Grants.

Mutharika Urges African Universities To Produce Super Qualified Scientists

Mutharika

President Professor Peter Mutharika has urged African Universities to produce highly qualified individy who can bring bright solutions to the continent that can make it one of the worlds robust economy.

President Mutharika was speaking this Wednesday at Kamuzu Palace in the capital city Lilongwe where he was officially opening a Ministerial Consultative meeting on Strengthening Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa for Regional Universities Forum (RUFORUM).

In his remarks President Mutharika underlined that Africa must improve its capacity to make use of science and technology to enhance food production and its own competitiveness in the global marketplace.

“Science, technology and innovation (STI) is underpinned by the generation and use of knowledge through research, which itself requires the availability of a ‘cadre’ of highly trained science professionals.

“It is the role of universities to train the future workforce for the continent, to undertake research and to ensure that generated knowledge makes an impact on African societies.” He said

“Education and particularly higher education is a critical mechanism for creating a cadre of professionals to undertake and oversee research that would create the knowledge base for technological innovation. Our universities must produce graduates with High level skills which are essential to deliver the vision of African leaders through the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA) and the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) to diversify African economies through creating new economic growth sectors with higher value added.” He emphasised  

However, president Mutharika noted that there are number of critical challenges Africa’s Higher Education sector is facing that includes; low quality of education, inadequate number of qualified staff at PhD level, infrastructure, outdated curriculum and  pedagogies, and inadequate funding which are further exacerbated by the high demand for access to higher education.

He therefore asked African Governments to commit to national and regional investments in Higher Education, Science and Technology, Commitment to establish an ‘African university ranking system’ that recognizes the specific need for Higher Education in Agriculture and other fields and making it easy for academia to travel across the continent.

“On its part, the Malawi Government will continue to put emphasis on higher education as set out in the National Education Sector Plan (2008-2017), and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS II). The goals and objectives relate to expanded equitable access to education; improved quality and relevance of education; and improved governance and management.” He said

Speaking before the president officially opened the meeting the Ugandan Minister of Higher Education, Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa, emphasised that it Science and Technology that can help African countries to develop

“Your Excellency, it is important that we support the creation of critical mass of engineers, scientists and others in that related field. Without that support things will not work.” He said

“We are therefore inviting you, Your Excellency, to spearhead that support especially of returning the scientists that we have produced, this is because the challenge we are having now is that due to poor facilities, when we train these scientist they hardly stay in Africa” said the minister who assured President Mutharika that RUFORUM academia and Professors will support president Mutharika’s endeavours that intend to promote education in Africa.

The Consultative Ministerial Meeting on Higher Education, Science and Technology began on Tuesday 20th October and is expected to end on Wednesday 21st October, 2015 at Bingu International Conference Center in Lilongwe.

The contents from the discussions which academia and vice chancellors from African Universities will produce will feed into the next week meeting for Higher Education Ministers expected in Ethiopia. RUFORUM is a network of 55 universities in the continent

New Book 'Kholo La Ngwiro' To Support Govt Efforts On Parenting

Ebba Gondwe shaking hands with McKnight Kalanda

The Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare says the new book Kholo La Ngwiro will go a long way in supporting the ministry's efforts on its programmes that targets parents.

Kholo La Ngwiro a Chichewa Book authored by Ebba Eunice Gondwe, is a Kachere Series Publication which focuses on parenting.