Spirit of Transformation: Making Teaching a Prestigious Profession in Malawi

On 6th July, 2023, both The Nation and Daily Times newspapers carried a story on teacher shortages in Malawi's education system. Both papers quoted Secretary for Education, Mrs Chikondano Mussa, as saying the country's secondary schools were short of 30,000 teachers, and primary schools were short of 35,000 teachers.

The country's teacher training colleges, which train primary school teachers, have an estimated bed capacity of between 9,000 and 10,000. Currently primary school teachers undergo a two-year certificate programme, and an estimated 5,000 new teachers graduate each year (actual figures differ from year to year due to various factors).

The government has been unable to recruit new teachers over the past five years, and lately they have resorted to recruiting what they are calling "auxiliary teachers", paid K80,000 (approx. $75) per month, on yearly contracts. The International Monetary Fund's Extended Credit Facility conditionalities prevent Malawi from recruiting the civil servants that it needs. There is some good news this year, as both The Nation and Daily Times reported on 6th July. Government will be able to recruit 3,000 new primary school teachers, and another 3,000 new secondary school teachers. Given government's inability to recruit any teachers over the past five years, and albeit the small number, this is a positive development.

The current estimate of 5,000 new teachers graduating every year means it would take six years to train the 30,000 teachers that make the current primary school teacher shortage. The Ministry's statistics show that 2,141 primary school teachers left the profession in the 2021/2022 school year. The commonest reason was retirement - voluntary, mandatory, and, interestingly, by "public demand."

The National Education Sector Investment Plan (NESIP) 2020-2030 estimates that the country will need 118,314 by 2030 in order to reach a 1:60 qualified teacher-pupil ratio. Covid-19 forced half a million learners out of primary school, which, inadvertently, improved the teacher-pupil ratio to 1:62, pushing it very close to the policy target nine years ahead of schedule. However, the truth of the matter is that we need to retire this policy target. It is archaic. It first appeared in the country’s education policy in 2008, as an admission that it was proving impossible to achieve the 1:40 teacher-pupil ratio proposed in Vision 2020. So 1:60 was proposed as an intermediate target, to be reached by 2018. It did not happen.

We need a new, more ambitious policy target. Countries who rank as having the best education systems in the world aim for small classes, even down to 15 learners per class. That may be impossible for us, but as the historic Transforming Education Summit at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly called on member states, transforming education systems requires setting ambitious targets.

One important, transformative policy proposal in the NESIP 2020-2030 is to change the entry-level qualification to teach in primary school from a certificate to a diploma/degree. Going by the NESIP projection of 118,314 teachers needed by 2030, and probably several thousands more if we factor in attrition, population growth, and a more ambitious teacher-pupil ratio, there actual number of teachers who need to be upgraded is much bigger. The current model of relying on bed capacity in the public and private teacher training colleges will not be able to deliver the more than 17,000 teachers per year who need to upgrade between now and 2030.

On Friday 14th July, 2023, Unicaf University launched a new Bachelor of Education in Primary Education programme, for Malawian primary school teachers. As a fully online teacher preparation programme, it has been designed to help towards the Malawi Government’s ambition to upgrade the entry level qualification for primary school teachers, and to do so at scale. The programme was launched at Chatuwa Primary School, in Area 18B, in the city of Lilongwe. The Minister of Education, Hon. Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima, was represented by Dr. Levis Eneya, Director of Higher Education in the Ministry. The Secretary for Education, Mrs Chikondano Mussa, was represented by Dr. Zizwa Msukuma, Director of Teacher Education and Development in the Ministry.

Below are the remarks I made at the launch, edited for purposes of the blog. I explained the rationale behind the programme, the process and the design, and how we hope it can contribute towards the transformation of the teaching profession in Malawi. I titled my remarks “Spirit of Transformation: Making Teaching a Prestigious Profession in Malawi.”

[Speech]

I want to start by sharing a brief story of how I became a primary school teacher. I am one of 4,000 teachers who were trained through the Malawi Special Teacher Education Programme, MASTEP. It ran from December 1989 to July 1993. Our postings came toward the end of the year 1993. In January 1994, at the beginning of the second term, I reported at the Dedza District Education Office. I was posted to a school in Dedza West, on the border with Mozambique. To get to the school, there was a bus that went in that direction once a day, but from the bus stop, there was another long distance, by bicycle. So, I was advised to drop off at the bus stop, walk to a nearby school, and ask to borrow a bicycle. I did as advised. The school was kind enough to ask a Standard 8 learner to accompany me. So I got on the bicycle, with the student on the carrier. I remember at one point asking the boy, how far do we still have to go? “He pointed at a range of hills in the distance. “See those hills in the distance? The school is behind those hills.”

We arrived at the school towards noon. I informed the headteacher that I was not staying yet; I needed to go back and get my belongings before returning to report for duties and start my job. We cycled back, just in time for me to catch the bus on its way back to Dedza boma. Instead of picking up my belongings and reporting at the school, I came to the Ministry Headquarters here in Lilongwe, to ask to be transferred to Zomba, where my parents stayed and worked. Why? I was looking for an opportunity to continue with my studies. It would be easier to do that in Zomba than in Dedza. My request was not granted, but I was allowed to transfer to Ntcheu instead. Four years later, in 1998, my dream of further education materialized.

I started with that story because, were that scenario to repeat itself today, I would not reject my posting to a remote school in Dedza, or anywhere in the country. I would accept it, because I would not need to go to a city school in order to pursue further studies. The Bachelor of Education in Primary Education programme that we have developed at Unicaf University, which is being launched today, has been designed exactly for the kind of teacher I was in 1994. It has also been designed for anyone who would like to become a primary school teacher anywhere in Malawi. The desire for Malawian primary school teachers to have diplomas and degrees as the entry-level qualification has a long history. In the 2008-2018 National Strategy for Teacher Education and Development (NSTED), the plan was to start with headteachers, Primary Education Advisers, Teacher Training College lecturers, and District Education Managers. For TTC lecturers and District Education Managers, this was achieved. In the National Education Sector and Investment Plan (NESIP) 2020-2030, the plan has now extended to primary school teachers. And this is where Unicaf University has stepped in, to support this national policy and help make it a reality.

As the Ministry’s most recent statistics show, there were 84,798 primary school teachers in the country in 2022. At least 800 of these teachers already had a diploma or a degree in education. That leaves more than 83,000 teachers who need to be upgraded. The NESIP 2020-2030 projects that 118,314 teachers would be needed in order to reach a teacher-pupil ratio of 60 learners per teacher, per classroom by 2030. Considering teacher attrition rates, population growth rates, and the desire for smaller classes as per international standards, the demand for new primary school teachers is obviously larger than these figures suggest. Training all these teachers to diploma and degree levels poses a national headache.

Unicaf University has a state-of-the-art online platform that can enroll students at scale. The BEd in Primary Education programme that we have developed will enroll anyone who would like to become a primary school teacher, and also primary school teachers who would like to upgrade their qualifications to diploma and degree level.

The programme provides three innovations made possible only by online technology, not available in traditional face-to-face programmes.

1. First, upgrading teachers will not have to leave their duty station and teaching responsibilities to go to a university. All the curriculum and content materials are online. Students just need a computer, or laptop, or tablet or a smartphone and an Internet connection.

2. Second, Teaching Practice will not need relocation, whether for upgrading teachers or generic students. This modality therefore allows for an extended Teaching Practice, beyond the limits of a face-to-face programme. In our programme, the Teaching Practice for upgrading teachers is one full year, while for generic students, it is two years.

3. The third innovation made possible by the online platform is that student teachers, both generic students and upgrading teachers, will be able to put theory to practice immediately. They will not have to wait to finish college courses, before going into the classroom for Teaching Practice.

There are two other innovations. The programme requires student teachers to conduct Child Study in Year 3, and Action Research in Year 4. The Child Study will involve the study of the cognitive and social development of a learner for one full year (Year 3). The Action Research component will require student teachers to identify a problem in classroom practice, or in the school, and spend their final year researching solutions to that problem.

International research on Teacher Education consistently shows that student teachers who spend up to one year in Teaching Practice are more satisfied with their preparation as teachers, and are viewed by their colleagues and headteachers as better prepared. The research further shows that teachers prepared through this model are also more likely to enter the profession upon completion, and to stay in the profession. In Malawi, Teaching Practice runs for one or two school terms, at most.

To develop the programme, we engaged in extensive consultations and research. We had more than fifteen meetings and stakeholder forums with the relevant directorates in the Ministry, and with stakeholders who included teachers, headteachers, teacher educators, Primary Education Advisers, District Education Managers, academics, civil society, and Development Partners, among others. We benchmarked against peer institutions locally, and also internationally. We studied previous teacher education programmes in Malawi, including MASTEP and MIITEP, and the current IPTE programme. We also consulted top-ranked teacher preparation programmes in other countries.

The product of that process is a programme that will produce a well-prepared and highly qualified primary school teacher in a 21st century Malawi. They will learn the foundations of education, comprising historical, philosophical, and ethical perspectives in education. They will encounter sociological and psychological perspectives in education; academic communication and critical thinking, as well as curriculum theory and practice, and inclusive classroom management.

They will learn all the content that comprises the primary school curriculum, and the attendant teaching and assessment methods. Student teachers will also learn how to teach peace education, citizenship education, and intercultural education. They will tackle climate change and sustainable development challenges, leadership and management, and evidence-informed decision making in education policy. The programme aims to produce teachers who will use creative and innovative thinking to solve classroom and school problems. They will learn how to use digital technology for teaching and learning, in addition to courses in Business Management, Entrepreneurship, and Financial Literacy.

I was looking at the class that sat this year’s Standard 8 exams, the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) Examinations. When that class entered Standard 1 eight years ago, in the 2015/2016 school year, their enrollment was an estimated 1.1 million learners. This year, the number that sat the PSLCE exam was 276,052 learners. Over the 8-year period between 2015 and 2023, more than 823,000 learners from this cohort, did not make it. That is 75 percent; or three out of four learners. This is a serious challenge to the human capital development agenda of this country. We have designed a programme whose graduating teachers will have a deeper understanding of national challenges such as these, and the role of teachers in helping to find lasting solutions.

As the numbers of teachers wanting to upgrade, and of young Malawians wanting to enter the teaching profession grow, there will be a need to educate a new cohort of teacher educators to produce new teachers in our teacher training institutions. Unicaf University has existing Masters, Ph.D., and Doctor of Education programmes to meet this need. Our university offers a holistic and comprehensive online ecosystem of teacher education and development from undergraduate to postgraduate levels. Our postgraduate programmes in education contribute to education research, policy and practice at national and international levels. Our postgraduate students research difficult problems in the education systems of Malawi and other countries around the world.

The BEd in Primary Education programme being launched today is going to contribute to national aspirations to make the teaching profession special and attractive. As we all recognize, the teaching profession is the foundation of all professions. At the historic Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, held during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, His Excellency the State President, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, presented Malawi’s National Statement of Commitment towards transforming education in Malawi by 2030. With regard to the role of teachers in that transformation, here is what the President said: “Malawi’s aspirations for teachers … include the transformation of the teaching profession to make it prestigious, autonomous, trusted, and accountable.”

At Unicaf University, we believe that the BEd in Primary Education programme will contribute towards those aspirations. There is one important implication to the aspiration to the make teaching profession prestigious and attractive, as is stated in the National Statement of Commitment. It means transforming the education system, and the teaching profession, so that Malawi’s brightest secondary school students, those who score Six Points (distinctions) at Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination, should be able to choose to become primary school teachers, because they know they will be joining a prestigious profession. That is why it is important that a diploma/degree in primary education is becoming the entry-level qualification, as per the NESIP 2020-2030. And teachers should not stop there. They should be able to continue on to postgraduate qualifications, while staying within the teaching profession and helping to transform it.

As I conclude my remarks, it is in that spirit of transformation, that our programme has been designed; to help make teaching a prestigious profession in Malawi. In so doing, we hope this programme will contribute towards Malawi’s long-term ambitions, including the 2030 agenda, and the Malawi 2063 vision.

Stories of Ubuntu today; Hope for humanity tomorrow

Below is text of a speech I gave to students at Dzaleka Community Day Secondary School, on 14th January, 2022. On this day, Unicaf University (Malawi) presented awards to three Dzaleka CDSS students who won first (Joyce Bahati), second (Pacifique Imara Simbi) and third (Zawadi Ombeni) prizes in an essay competition that Unicaf University organised.

Dzaleka CDSS is ran by Jesuit Refugee Services, who on this day were represented by their Schools Coordinator, Yamiko Kawale. Also present was the Deputy Headteacher, Jean Mvuthe

I stand before you today, on behalf of the Vice Chancellor of Unicaf University, who is unable to be here himself, due to other equally important matters. There are two purposes for my speech today. The first purpose is to thank you for the essays you wrote and the stories you told in those essays. The second purpose is to encourage you to keep telling and writing your stories as a way of imagining the future we want, a future based on the values of Ubuntu.

I will first say a few things about myself, before turning to what I loved about the three essays that won. I will then speak about the importance of education in your lives in imagining the future we want for ourselves and for the world. I will conclude by encouraging you to continue reading, writing and imagining a better world; a world which values the philosophy of Ubuntu.

My name is Steve Sharra, and I am an Associate Professor of Education at Unicaf University. I share something with you the students and the teachers here. When I was in secondary school, my biggest desire was to become a creative writer. I started writing when I was in Form 2, and have continued to this day. When I finished my Form Four, I went to Lilongwe Teachers College, where I trained to become a primary school teacher. So I became both a writer/storyteller, and also a teacher. These two preoccupations continue to define who I am to this day.

When I read the three stories that won the essay writing competition, my mind went back to my secondary school days. In your stories, I saw the unmistakable power of reflection on the present state of the world, as seen through the eyes of secondary school students. I heard the deep desire to help solve today’s social, political and cultural problems. I felt the honest, personal conversations with the future in both its past and present forms, and the uncertainty that hangs over our lives today. I also sensed, in the stories, the value of Ubuntu which defines who we are. We are, because of others. In Ubuntu we say “You are, therefore I am.” Which means our main purpose in this world is to help others. That is how we will create a better world without war, violence, poverty, and suffering.

The stories you wrote show that you the students of Dzaleka CDSS, who are the youth of Dzaleka Refugee Camp and the villages that surround it, have a lot of talent, and a lot of concern about the problems in the community, in the country, and in the world. The stories also demonstrate the passion you have about solving the problems of today and creating a better tomorrow.

Dzaleka Refugee Camp has many stories to tell, some painful, and some beautiful. I was here at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in November 2021, for the Tumaini Festival. It was my first time attending the festival, whose very name, Tumaini means “hope”. I met Tresor Mpauni, the founder of the festival, and took a picture with him. What Tresor has achieved with the Tumaini Festival teaches us a lesson in hope. A lesson that with hope, our current problems should not define our future.

There are many other beautiful stories from Dzaleka Refugee Camp, and from Dzaleka CDSS. In October 2021, Dzaleka CDSS won the National Schools Science Fair, held at Kamuzu Academy. Over 40 schools participated, including some of the best and most expensive schools in Malawi. Dzaleka CDSS beat them all and won this competition. We heard about Justin Waka, who was in Form 3 here at the time. Justin developed software that can reduce traffic accidents, a fascinating invention that should make a huge difference on the roads of the country.

While in the headteacher’s office this morning, we saw all those trophies you have won in the last few years; beating all the schools in the country in science, agriculture, and French. Congratulations for all these achievements.

All these stories show the power of the human spirit. They show that when given the opportunity, and the resources, human beings can overcome many of the obstacles that prevent them from enjoying their rights and enhancing their talents. These stories also show that you, the young people of Dzaleka Refugee Camp, and the surrounding communities, are ready to participate in and contribute to the future of not only this country, but the world.

And to prepare for that future, as the stories you wrote indicate, education is very important. The school you are attending is a place that should give you hope for tomorrow, because education is the best preparation for the future.

I would like to conclude by encouraging you to continue seeking further education, to continue reading, to continue writing, and to continue being hopeful for a better tomorrow. A tomorrow based on the values of Ubuntu and helping others.

Thank you very much!

Teachers and Malawi’s development goals: Thoughts for World Teachers Day 2022

It’s only Wednesday, but it has been a busy week in Malawi’s education space. On Sunday 2^nd October the Minister of Education, Hon. Agnes NyaLonje and the Executive Secretary of the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB), Professor Dorothy Nampota, released the results of the 2022 Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examinations. The next day, on Monday 3^rd October the Ministry announced that it would be recruiting 4,125 auxiliary teachers from the Initial Primary Teacher Education (IPTE) Cohort 13, and some from cohort 14. And today, 5^th October, is World Teachers Day. Social media worldwide and in Malawi has been awash with messages of celebratory goodwill for teachers.

The most dominant news in Malawi, however, has been the PSLCE results and the two top performers, a girl and a boy, who both got 448 points out of 500. Mirriam Kachala, 13, is from Chipiloni Primary School in Zomba, and Joseph Magombo, 12, is from Nankhaka Primary School in Lilongwe. Their secondary education will be supported by scholarships from Press Trust Limited. Other well-wishers have also been donating sums of money to support the two students beyond secondary school.

Mirriam Kachala. Photo from Ministry of Education. 

Joseph Magombo. Photo from Ministry of Education

Many were pleasantly surprised to learn that out of the 260,295 students who sat the exam, 216,664 passed, representing 83.24 percent. Many were equally dismayed to learn that only 89,404 students have been selected to public secondary schools, representing 41.62 percent, an improvement of 4 percent over last year’s selection rate of 37 percent. The pass rate for girls (78.33 percent) is ten percent lower than boys (88.21 percent), while the pass rate for special needs students (72.85 percent) is 11 percent lower than the other students.  

This year’s cohort entered Standard One in the 2014-2015 academic year. The 2015 Education Statistics Bulletin indicates that there were 1,061,868 learners in Standard One in that year. 

The math shows that 801,573 learners did not make it to Standard 8, having dropped out, or having been held back to repeat. That represents 75 percent of the cohort. Put differently, three out of four learners who entered Standard One in 2014-2015 did not make it to Standard 8 by the year 2022. These are disturbing numbers, but they are not new. We already know, from the 2018 Population and Housing Census, that amongst our 14-17 year olds, the official secondary school age, three out of four are not in school.

The numbers will improve in the near future, owing to a number of projects in the education sector. The Secondary Education Expansion for Development (SEED) project, funded by USAID, is constructing and expanding 250 secondary schools. Assuming that 250 new secondary schools were constructed today, and each accommodated 600 new students, we would improve secondary school enrolment by 150,000, which would be enough to accommodate all the 127,000 Standard 8 learners who have not been selected to secondary school this year. More secondary schools are being constructed and expanded through other projects also, including the European Union-funded Improving Secondary Education in Malawi (ISEM) II, and the World Bank-funded Equity with Quality Learning at Secondary (EQUALS) project. As I observed in an earlier piece, progress has been an issue, and there have been substantial delays.

The news announced on Monday, about the recruitment of 4,125 auxiliary teachers to go into primary schools, did not receive the same enthusiasm as the release of the PSLCE results. Auxiliary teachers are slowly becoming the norm as the government is unable to recruit full time teachers. This should not be allowed to continue. As of August this year, 17,438 primary school teachers have been trained, from IPTE Cohort 13 which graduated in 2020, to Cohort 16, which sat their final examinations in August 2022. The government is unable to recruit these teachers on a full time basis largely due to a wage bill cap that is part of a policy regimen of conditionalities that come with the Extended Credit Facility that Malawi is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund.

The public only gets snippets of the ongoing negotiations, making it difficult to know exactly why the government needs to observe particular conditionalities. Memories of 2011 and 2012 are still fresh in the minds of many, when then President Bingu wa Mutharika openly disagreed with the IMF on conditionalities. We all know what happened to the Malawi economy, and there have been near reminisces lately.

Today, on World Teachers Day, it is important to think about the role of teachers towards achieving Malawi’s national goals. During the recent United Nations General Assembly summit in New York, world leaders made pledges towards transforming education in their countries and globally. Most pledges made mentioned the central role of teachers. Malawi’s President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera presented a Statement of Malawi’s commitments, which included making education mandatory for every child from early childhood through to secondary education. The Government of Malawi, through the President, also pledged, among others, to ensure 100 percent enrollment rate in primary school, 100 percent primary school completion rate, 100 percent transition rate to secondary school, and 100 percent secondary school completion rate.

It is difficult to imagine how Malawi's commitments to transforming education can be fulfilled without adequate teachers in primary and secondary school. As enrollments improve, as they are expected to, more and more young people will be in school, and more and more teachers will be needed to teach them. There has to be a solution to the impasse caused by the IMF conditionalities, otherwise we should forget about achieving any of the education goals by 2030, or, let alone, 2063.

 

 

Why Malawi’s education sector could be on the cusp of change

On 5^th April, 2022, Minister of Education, Hon. Agnes NyaLonje presented a ministerial statement to Parliament on the status of government projects in the primary and secondary education sub-sectors. The statement paints the grim reality of problems gripping the country’s education system, but it also shows that if we can follow through on current policy plans, strategies, and the national vision, we might be on the cusp of change over the foreseeable future.

It is nothing short of a national scandal, as we have known since the 2018 population and housing census, that 85 percent of 14-17 year-old Malawians are out of school. It is deeply troubling that 62 percent of students who pass the Standard 8 examination have nowhere else to go because our public secondary school capacity accommodates only 38 percent of those who pass. Such is the precarity and fragility of our education and social protection systems that 450,000 primary school learners (8 percent) have dropped out of school since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. For secondary school students, that number is 37,000 (9 percent).

Before the cyclones between January and March this year, 10 percent of primary school learners were using temporary classrooms, while 25 percent were using open air classrooms. According to the Ministry of Education, the cyclones affected 476 schools in 22 education districts. There is a deficit of 4.4 million desks for both primary and secondary schools. At the primary school level, 75 percent of learners do not have a desk.

There is progress being made, but it is slow. The government has been constructing three teacher training colleges, but four years since construction started, not even one has been completed. Indications are that all three will be completed this year, which will be a great development. The Secondary Education Expansion for Development (SEED) project, which aims to expand or construct 250 secondary schools, started in 2018, and is expected to end in 2023. With one year to go, the project has constructed only 16 new secondary schools, and expanded only 30. Hopefully there will be an extension, owing to the delays this important project has encountered.

There are positive signs on the horizon, however. There are ambitious and forward looking policies and strategies that, if strictly followed and implemented, could lead to tremendous improvements in the system by 2030 and beyond. The MIP-1, the implementation plan for the first 10 years of the Malawi 2063 vision, has made several strategic provisions. By 2025 all primary schools are expected to have an Early Childhood Education program to ensure that every child has access to public pre-school. Currently only 28 percent of our children have access to pre-school, and these are mostly privately owned centres in urban areas. Access to early childhood education will help most children enter primary school well prepared, and succeed.

Currently about 800,000 children enter Standard One every year, and only about 300,000 survive to Standard 8. This explains why 67 percent of Malawians aged 15 and above do not have any school qualification, according to the 2018 population and housing census. There are far more Malawians outside the school system, than those in school, especially those of adolescent and young adult ages. The budget has nothing for them. The MIP-1 provides for community learning centres, which would address this problem.

There are three other really important strategic interventions the government is undertaking. The Ministry of Education is introducing Open, Distance and eLearning across the entire education system. This could unlock access for millions of Malawians who are denied an opportunity for education especially at secondary and tertiary levels. The Ministry is also developing a new science, technology and innovation strategy that, together with the ODeL strategy, could solve major problems of access, quality, research and innovation across the education system.

There is also a National Teacher Policy that aims to transform the teaching profession and make it central to improving the quality of education and enhance human development capabilities. Once launched, the teaching profession may not be the same. At the heart of Malawi 2063 and the MIP-1 are education, knowledges and competencies to deliver on the aspirations both in the short term and in the long term. That is why one of the seven pillars of Malawi 2063 is human capital development, which others prefer to call human capabilities to ward off the exploitative scent of neoliberal thinking. The education system, and teachers in particular, are therefore central to the achievement of the national vision.

So what we really need to do, as a nation, is to make sure we all understand the vision we have set for ourselves. Even more important is to develop a strong implementation mindset to ensure that we follow through on what we have pledged to do. We should put behind us the era of developing brilliant policies and strategies but failing to implement them. The Malawi 2063 and the MIP-1 are brilliant, well thought out documents. But they need to be seen as living documents that can respond to shifting ground. They also require vigilance and determination, especially in the governance and public sector performance areas.

What is most crucial about the new policies and strategies is that they need to aim at growing the economy exponentially, for the country to be able to start financing and implementing the national vision in the mid-term and in the long term. The current education sector investment plan for the period 2020 to 2030 envisages that for 2022, the education sector requires MK1 trillion. The 2022-2023 budget passed in Parliament recently has allocated MK462 billion to the education sector; not even half of what is needed. This is a problem of the national economy and governance systems.

Currently there is about K153 billion ($180 million) from development partners going into the primary education sub-sector, and about K204 billion ($240 million), also from development partners, being spent on the secondary education sub-sector. Development projects in the education sector are still heavily dependent on donor aid, largely due to the size of our economy which is incapable of funding huge infrastructure projects. There is hope that the MIP-1 strategy might help to begin to change things.

The massive corruption and theft that have now become a daily front page routine pose an existential threat to the national vision, but one we can overcome, if we are determined enough.

I dream of a teaching profession that attracts the best and brightest motivated young Malawians

A TV Station interviewing a 2021 Malawian outstanding teacher (Photo credit: © Steve Sharra)

The Lamp Magazine interview by Joseph Kayira, May 2021

JK: The results of the retaken 2020 MSCE examination show that 81,017 candidates out of 138,310 have failed representing 41.42 percent, a pass rate said to be the worst in a decade. What is your take on this?

SS: The poor results of the 2020 MSCE examinations were shocking and disappointing, but they cannot be said to have been unforeseen. It would have taken a miracle for the majority of students to have excelled after schools were closed for six months, and then the exams were cancelled midway through due to massive leakages and cheating. As the elders would have put it, this was “muvi woyang’anira”. It was heartwarming to see some students still going ahead to score six points and others with several distinctions, so all is not lost.

JK: What’s your opinion on some experts who think the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) should take responsibility for this unfortunate situation where these 81,017 candidates find themselves in.

SS: MANEB’s responsibility is to assess students, not to teach them. What these results have done is to hold up a mirror for us to see how our public secondary school system is performing.

JK: Was it not proper for MANEB to consider reducing the passing rate in view of the Covid-19 induced holiday forcing students stay home for some time?

SS: Reducing the passing mark would compromise the quality of education because it would depict a false image of how our public secondary school system is performing. We would end up lulling ourselves into a false sense of satisfaction; sending to universities and into employment people whose educational qualifications would not be congruent with their true level of knowledge and skills. Perhaps MANEB could have asked the Ministry of Education to delay the exams by another month or two, to allow teachers and students a little more time to prepare. But reducing the pass mark would have had undesirable consequences. The solution is to systematically study the conditions in the system, and address them.

 JK: Others think MANEB punished MSCE candidates for the examination leakage hence the poor results.

SS: If that were true, it would be unfortunate. An examining authority cannot set an exam whose purpose is to make students fail. It would entail examining students on content that was beyond their level and scope. That would be not only unethical, it would also be irresponsible. I stand to be corrected, but I hope that is not what happened.

JK: How best can MANEB handle similar situations in future to avoid the 2020 examination saga?

SS: There was a promise to carry out investigations, both internal and external. I am not aware of any reports that have been released in that regard. If the investigations were systematic and meticulous, then MANEB and the Ministry must have identified where things went wrong, and why. It was reassuring to see that the re-run happened without leakages and cheating, so one hopes whatever lessons were learned from the investigations were applied. It will take consistent due diligence to ensure that the 2020 scenario does not repeat itself in future. The integrity of our education system hinges on the conduct and credibility of the national examination process.

JK: Do you think MANEB has all the support it needs from its stakeholders to properly prepare and manage examinations?

SS: In recent years MANEB was able to demonstrate professionalism and credibility, which may be taken to mean that it has been getting the support it needs from key stakeholders. The national examination process has many layers of complexity, and requires the support and collaboration of many players. Achieving success in such a complex undertaking takes all the players sharing the ultimate goal, that of improving our education system and upholding its integrity.

JK: For months teachers, through Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM), have been fighting government [Ministry of Education] asking for risk allowance in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Were they justified to go on strike for that reason?

SS: There are two ways of looking at this. First, the teachers’ demands for covid-19 risk allowances were made in a political economy context where “allowances” have come to symbolize benefits and entitlements that have in the end created inequalities that are eating at the core of the country’s social fabric. Thus “allowances” operate in a culture where the elite accumulate for themselves benefits, privileges and power, at the expense of everyone else. That self-accumulation has been blatantly evident in the way covid-19 relief funds have been handled. People who were not at risk to the corona virus because of the nature of their work helped themselves to those funds.

The second way of looking at this question it through the prism of risk itself, real or perceived. Teachers were considered to be at some level of risk, and therefore deserving of allowances, but that decision was changed without explanation. Malawian classrooms in the public schools are so overcrowded it is impossible to achieve the social distance needed to keep away the virus. And young people are known to be carriers of corona virus without exhibiting symptoms. Classrooms are enclosed spaces and epidemiologists have pointed out this as a significant factor in the spread of the virus. Teachers and learners spend long hours inside those enclosed spaces. Teachers were not given PPE; instead, they were made to make their own masks at training sessions where even the money meant for their lunch allowances was swindled.

JK: How should the culture of allowances be handled in this country? Were teachers right or wrong to ask for risk allowance?

SS: When testing for corona virus reached boarding secondary schools, the numbers of students who were found positive were alarming. In some schools the infection rate was fifty percent. Teachers especially in boarding schools were justifiably concerned about their safety from the virus. By the way many teachers use their personal funds to make purchases for their learners and for their classrooms. This happens all over the world. Giving them the allowance would have been a reasonable gesture of appreciation for what teachers do, much of which is thankless. And some would use the money to buy PPE.

The injustice in how the allowances were handled was blatant, and it would have been naïve to expect teachers to just watch and keep quite. That is the context in which we should understand the teachers’ demands for risk allowances.

We all await the report and recommendations from the taskforce that the president announced to look into the issue of allowances, procurement and employment contracts, headed by the Vice President. Hopefully that process will bring sanity to the corrosive culture that the allowances syndrome has created.

JK: Wouldn’t you agree with those who are criticizing teachers for not being sensitive enough to go on strike at a time when the learners needed them most and at a time the country was, and still is in a crisis?

SS: In contexts where injustices are rampant, people tend to be strategic in deciding when to make their demands heard. If Malawi were a society where people were treated with dignity and respect, and people’s pleas for recognition were listened to, the teachers’ demands would have been considered insensitive. But we have created a society where the elite feel entitled to all the privileges and accumulate for themselves benefits and perks. The teachers were trying to make their voices heard in such a context. It is unfortunate that this happened when the education system was at its worst moment due to the covid-19 pandemic, but given everything we have seen, one can understand where the teachers are coming from. 

 

Minister of Education, Hon. Agnes NyaLonje, awarding a 2021 outstanding teacher

(Photo credit: © Steve Sharra)

JK: Do you think teachers have better working conditions in this country? How is Malawi ranked when it comes to remuneration of teachers in this region?

SS: When we talk about teachers’ working conditions, we talk about several things. We talk about school and classroom conditions, where teachers spend a lot of their time. The infrastructure alone needs to be appealing, hygienic, and fit for purpose. Teacher-pupil ratios need to be reasonable. Workloads also need to be reasonable so that workers can have a good work-life balance. Education relies on equipment and materials to facilitate teaching and learning. Then there are issues of remuneration and benefits. 

In Malawi teachers’ conditions, as defined, are not conducive. Classes are so large it takes a lot of work to manage them. Much of the infrastructure, especially in rural areas, is below standard. Teaching and learning materials are a big problem. In her report on the 2020 MSCE results, the Minister of Education, Hon. Agnes NyaLonje, stated that students in lower secondary classes are sharing one textbook to five students. In the upper secondary classes, that is Forms 3 and 4, the situation is so bad that up to 25 students are sharing one textbook. What that means is that many students are going the whole school year without touching a school book. That is a sure recipe for the disaster unfolding before our eyes.

There is also the important aspect of professional growth and career path, which is a huge bottleneck in our educational system. Many teachers work hard over many years but are never rewarded through promotions or other modes of recognition. Many times promotions are politicized. Many teachers are frustrated, and morale has been low for a very long time, it has become a chronic problem. There are now efforts to institutionalise a performance management system, a teacher management strategy, and a continuous professional development framework that should make career progression systematic and realistic. Once that system is established, it should restore hope in the profession and make it attractive again. It should also help retain teachers.

In terms of remuneration, teachers’ salaries are calibrated within the civil service salary structure, and teachers start at one level higher. However, salaries are just one part of the remuneration and privileges ecosystem, and in this regard teachers have the lowest benefits when compared to other sectors in the civil service. In comparative terms with the region, Malawian teachers’ salaries appear to be at par with the region, as far as power purchasing parity is concerned. But Malawi’s economy is in the lower ranks in the region, which puts Malawian teachers also in the lower ranks. Considering the role teachers play in the development of a nation, it is important to give teachers’ remuneration and benefits special consideration. We need to make the teaching profession attractive and appealing to young people. 

JK: How dangerous is the standoff between TUM and government to the welfare of teachers in Malawi?

SS: It is very dangerous. Teaching and learning rely on a lot of factors lining up symmetrically and working in sync. Learners learn best when teachers are motivated, respected and encouraged, and when teachers’ personal welfare and professional aspirations are taken care of. Classrooms are sensitive places that require a teacher who is mentally prepared to teach and is focused on helping students learn. The current atmosphere makes it very difficult for teachers to feel motivated and appreciated. The vitriol coming from certain quarters betrays an ugly underbelly of deep-seated resentment and contempt for teachers. That is very unfortunate.

JK: What should TUM do to puts its house in order for it was apparent during the recent standoff that the centre is no longer holding?

SS: TUM has existed over the decades. It started out as a teachers’ association from the time when schools were run by missionaries, to the time of independence. It has represented the voices of teachers very well over the years. That said, TUM does have issues that it needs to sort out. It needs to be responsive to the needs of its membership, and to be open and transparent. It is the membership that defines an organization, and where it derives its power. It is in listening to and representing the membership that TUM’s significance and influence will grow stronger. There are clear ongoing attempts to weaken and destroy TUM, which shows a lack of understanding of why TUM exists. The leadership of TUM needs to be cautious of attempts to politicize what the organization stands for, and to manipulate how it represents its constituency. These need to be resisted at all costs.

JK: Your final word?

SS: The goals we have set for ourselves for the Malawi we want will not be achieved if we sideline teachers and treat them as second class civil servants. It is teachers who will educate young Malawians and impart to them the skills and mindsets that this country needs to prosper. Teachers have an enormous responsibility in delivering the Malawi we all want. The values with which we treat teachers are the same values teachers will treat learners with. We need to be mindful of this always. I dream of a country that treats the teaching profession, in deed and in action, as the most important profession. I dream of a teaching profession that attracts the best and brightest motivated young Malawians because they understand education as the foundation for building a better Malawi.

Note: A version of this interview appeared in the May 2021 issue of The Lamp magazine. 

To build the Malawi we want, start with the way we treat teachers

Malawi News Hardtalk Interview by Rebecca Chimjeka (6th March, 2021)

RC: In your view are the teachers justified to demand risk allowances during the covid-19 pandemic?

SS: The teachers' strike brings into sharp relief difficult dilemmas from both sides, and calls for our best thinking for what is good for the education system, and for the country, in the long term. From the teachers’ side, one needs to appreciate the decades of official neglect, insignificance and undermining of the profession teachers have endured. As civil servants, teachers view their benefits, their public image and their noble role, in comparison to other civil servants. The differences are stark. Teachers see what is happening to public finances, in particular funds meant for fighting covid-19, and see their names implicated when they have not partaken in the plunder. Teachers are sharply aware of the unfairness, the elite ridicule, and what they see as the government’s inconsiderate attitude.

On the government’s side, the worry is understandably on the effect of any decisions on the public purse, the precedence this sets for other sectors, and the fate of millions of children. These are valid and genuine worries.

There is differential treatment towards the teachers in terms of how risk allowances are being allocated and how personal protection equipment (PPE) is being distributed. Teachers were told they would have to make their own masks, and were given training. Yet expenditure reports indicated that teachers were given masks. Most of the equipment and funds they received were inadequate, yet expenditure reports were bloated with false figures. Whether teachers are justified or not in striking needs to be understood in that context.

RC: Do you think Government is handling the sit in by teachers properly?

SS: Seen from the public gallery, Government seems to be taking the teachers for granted. It is rather curious that recommendations for risk allowances made by the education covid-19 task force in July 2020 were conveniently ignored and no explanation was provided. We are getting reports that in the crisis meetings that have been happening this week, the issue of allowances is being evaded and avoided. It makes one question whether government is negotiating in good faith.

RC: If one were to say it's morally wrong for teachers who were at home for 3 months on full pay, to now demand allowances from Government just when they have been told to go back to work, what will be your comment?

SS: What is morally wrong is to treat teachers as second class civil servants and to ignore their pleas for fairness and equality in how they are treated. The demand for allowances is not coming out of nowhere. It is coming from a perception of perennial persecution and insignificance, and a history of occupational invisibility. One wishes teachers did not choose this awkward, sensitive moment to stage the strike, given everything that has happened with covid-19 since March 2020. But truth be told, we need to be empathetic towards the teachers’ struggle for fairness and equality. There is virtue in acknowledging mis-steps in handling an unprecedented crisis such as this pandemic, and taking concrete steps to correct things. If done in good faith and in appreciation of the plight teachers are in, most teachers are reasonable, understanding and patriotic.

RC: If Government was to bow down to their demands, do you think it will be sustainable and what economic consequences will this have for Malawi?

SS: We need to think in the long term. Teachers are the foundation the country needs to set itself on the path to inclusive, equitable wealth creation and self-reliance, as we have expressed in the new long term vision, Malawi 2063. Achieving that long term vision is crucially dependent on a teaching workforce that is highly motivated, highly educated, and attracts the best and brightest young Malawians. That type of teaching workforce would transform this country beyond any short term considerations, and would put the country on a path to long term sustainability and economic prosperity.

RC: Anything you want to add?

SS: Two things. First, the culture of allowances has been allowed to fester and to distort our work ethic and government’s obligations to improve remuneration in the civil service. What we are seeing today is a legacy of that problem. It is a welcome development that there is now a taskforce to study and review the public service procedures, including allowances.

Lastly, a lot of things need to change if we are to achieve our societal dreams and aspirations. We need to build a society that values hard work, integrity, ethical conduct, human dignity, fairness, equity and equality, compassion, resilience, self-reliance, trust in our capabilities, and hope for the future. To build such a society, it must start with the way we treat teachers, and it will transfer to the society at large. Teachers will be critical in inculcating these values into the young Malawians who will deliver the Malawi we want.

Note: A version of this interview appeared on the Hardtalk page of the Malawi News on Saturday, 6th March, 2021. 

Malawi’s education crisis and the use of evidence in policy, planning and practice

When the report of the 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census was released in May 2019, there was one statistic that I found astounding. Amongst 14-17 year-old Malawian youths, the official secondary school age bracket, 82 percent of them were not in school. Only 18 percent were. I expected this statistic, which I considered to be a national crisis, to make front page and news headlines. It did not. Perhaps understandably. The focus was on the overall population figure, the percentage of young people, and other equally important findings. The education statistics largely went unnoticed.

Photo credit: © Steve Sharra

On the evening of Monday 7^th December this week, President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera hosted representatives from private industry for a state dinner at Sanjika Palace to address this issue. As far as I can recall, this was the first time in living memory that a president convened a key stakeholder constituency to discuss a particular problem facing the education sector. Finally, this national scandal has attracted the attention of the highest political office in the country. I would have missed it, had it not been for a colleague who stumbled upon the event on MBC TV, and alerted us on a professional whatsapp forum. For some reason, there seems to have been very little publicity ahead of the event.

I dropped everything I was doing, went to the TV, and found the Secretary for Education, Ms. Chikondano Mussa, presenting the status of secondary school education in the country. She had new figures. From 82 percent of 14-17 year-olds being out of school as of 2018, the figure was now at 86 percent in 2020. Out of over 1.7 million youths in that age range, only 460,000 are in school. There was one textbook for every five students, and only 24 percent of secondary school students were able to complete four years per cycle. The secondary school sub-sector loses 11 percent of its students every year, and 3 percent repeat. Only 6 percent are able to proceed to university. There was a shortage of science teachers, as well as teaching and learning materials.

Community Day Secondary Schools, originally introduced as distance education centres which have evolved into community secondary schools, bear the brunt of the quality conundrum. There are 753 of them in the country, and 303 of them operate what are known as open secondary schools. Open Secondary Schools accommodate an afternoon school system as a way of extending secondary education access to those who cannot find space in the conventional system. They also take in adults who want to return to school.

Community and open secondary schools take up almost 60 percent of the entire secondary school population. Of the 10,000 or so secondary school students who proceed to university annually, only 15 percent come from community and open secondary schools. The majority, 85 percent, come from better-resourced national and district boarding secondary schools, as well as from prestigious private secondary schools.

When it was her turn to speak, the Minister of Education, Hon. Agnes NyaLonje likened the enrollment bottleneck to a 6-lane highway at the primary level, narrowing down to a single-lane highway at the secondary level, ending up as a dirt road at the tertiary level. The country’s tertiary enrollment rate is less than one percent; to be precise, 0.8 percent. It is the lowest tertiary enrollment rate in the world, according to UNESCO statistics. As I pointed out in a recent blog post, this incredibly low tertiary enrollment rate is the ultimate result of access problems that clog the entire education pipeline, right from early childhood education where only one in three Malawian children has access.

Hon. NyaLonje presented what she termed three key messages to the captains of industry gathered at the presidential dinner. The first key message was the power of data, or evidence, in formulating and implementing education policies. She pointed out how important and powerful it was to know the shocking extent of Malawian youths who were out of the school system. Her second key message was for everyone to recognize how strategically positioned secondary school education was, between primary and tertiary education, in an interconnected education system. The third key message was directed at the captains of industry themselves. Thus far, Malawi had heavily relied upon development partners for investments into the country’s education system. Malawians were now ready, observed the Minister, to take up the lead in investing in the country’s education so that all Malawians have access to quality and inclusive education. “The transformed Malawi that we want is within our grasp”, she said.

Ms. NyaLonje then laid out an immediate vision and a long-term vision for the country’s education sector. The immediate vision was the construction of 34 top quality secondary schools, one in each education district, to be centres of education excellence, in the model of Kamuzu Academy. At a minimum, these schools would cost MK100 billion (approx $133 million) to become operational. The long-term vision was for adequate quality infrastructure at all the levels of the education sector, so that all Malawian children, youths and young adults can go to school and attain a good quality education.  

What did Malawi’s private industry stand to gain by generously investing in the quality of Malawi’s secondary schools? Hon. NyaLonje pointed out at that quality education was a catalyst to achieving Malawi’s dream of becoming a middle-income country. A high quality education would produce high quality graduates who would turn around the fortunes of Malawian companies and industries, enabling them to improve their productivity and expand their growth. And that would also grow the country’s economy and generate more resources to improve the lives of Malawians. Improving the quality of education in the country is therefore in their own interest, as the ultimate beneficiaries of highly educated and skilled graduates, as the Minister exhorted.

It may have taken two years since the National Statistics Office showed the nation the extent of the challenges facing the country’s education system, but the matter has finally drawn the attention of the president. In his speech, the president expressed his own shock at the figures, and used the imagery of a mirror that reflects the true image of how one looks.

In the four or so months she has been Minister of Education, Hon. NyaLonje has used every occasion she has had to stress the role of research and evidence in Malawi’s education policymaking and implementation process. The Ministry of Education has developed a remarkable capacity for collecting and analyzing education data, and has been making this data publicly available for many years. How that data has been used to inform education policymaking has not been very clear.

One month ago today, on 9^th November, the Ministry released the 2020 Education Sector Performance Review report. The report revealed some new education data since last year’s report. Secondary school enrollment had increased to 415,000 students, and that there were 13,000 more male students that females. There were 1,494 secondary schools in the country, and 55 percent of them did not have science laboratories. The availability of electricity was quite impressive, with 82 percent of secondary schools connected to either the national grid, or alternative energy sources.

The importance of data and evidence in policy making is crucial not only to education, but to the entire public policy architecture. However, the very idea of data and evidence itself needs a critical perspective. Some of the education statistics presented by the Minister of Education and the Secretary of Education at Sanjika Palace on Monday differ from the statistics presented in the 2020 Education Sector Performance Review report released four weeks ago.

For example, the Secretary for Education presented the total secondary school enrollment as 460,000, yet the 2020 ESPR report puts the figure at 415,000. Even in the 2020 ESPR itself, there are two different figures for the total number of secondary schools. On page 69 of the ESPR the total number of secondary schools in the country is given as 1,494. This shows a slight increase from the number given in the 2018 Education Management Information System (EMIS), which was 1,486.

The 2020 ESPR says the number of public secondary schools in the country stands at 884, but it does not give the total number of private secondary schools. The 2018 EMIS gave the total number of private secondary schools as 353. The 2020 ESPR gives the total primary school enrollment as just under 5.3 million, while the Secretary for Education said the figure was around 6 million.  

Some of the confusion with the numbers arises from the way secondary schools are classified. What are called Open Secondary Schools are not separate, independent schools with their own structures. They are afternoon classes that take place on the premises of existing secondary schools, but are counted as separate schools, for administrative purposes. On Monday the Secretary for Education said there were 303 of these. There has not been another EMIS since the 2018 version, which was released in 2019. The 2020 EMIS, when released, will hopefully present more accurate, harmonized figures.

While using data is important, it is much more important for that data to be accurate. To its credit, the Ministry of Education has a highly developed capacity in data collection and analysis, despite other challenges. These are challenges that will gradually be overcome, especially now that the importance of data will become even more prominent in the policy making and implementation process.

The immediate vision of the Ministry to establish 34 new high quality secondary schools also deserves comment. When the late Dr. Hasting Kamuzu Banda constructed the Kamuzu Academy, he said it was modelled after Eton College, an exclusive, boys-only boarding school in England. Eton is famous for educating members of the British royal family and ruling class. Critics said the Kamuzu Academy was an ‘Eton in the bush,’ and saw it as a lavish, elitist undertaking. Kamuzu’s idea was for the school to educate future generations of Malawian leaders, based on British standards. He declared, at a public rally, that no mutu biii (impolite term for ‘black person’) could teach at Kamuzu Academy. The school enrolled two students from each of the then-24 districts of the country, one male and one female.

To date, Kamuzu Academy has produced individuals who have gone on to leadership positions in Malawi. When Kamuzu relinquished power in 1994, Kamuzu Academy was fully privatized and started enrolling only those students who could afford the exorbitant fees. When Bingu wa Mutharika was president, he resumed the practice of enrolling top students from the districts and paying for their school fees, but this stopped when he died in 2012.

Constructing 34 such top schools, one in each district, is as ambitious as it is bold. If it would operate on the original model of Kamuzu Academy, enrolling top performing, less privileged students from the districts and offering them scholarships, it would provide a high quality education to a group of young, poor Malawians who would otherwise not be able to afford such an expensive education.

As others have pointed out, the Ministry’s immediate vision as expressed by the Minister stops short of addressing the other glaring problem of education quality in the secondary school sector. Almost 60 percent of the country’s secondary school students attend community and open secondary schools, known to have the worst problems in terms of qualified teachers, infrastructure and teaching and learning materials. This challenge also needs its own immediate vision. It should be part of the national vision that every Malawian has access to education quality of the highest standards, rather than make it the preserve of just a few. Obviously this cannot be achieved overnight; it is a gradual process requiring massive investments and long term planning. As Professor Augustine Musopole has argued, Malawi also needs to develop a home-grown philosophy of education, based on a Malawian and regional worldview.

It is very pleasing to note that on the evening of the presidential dinner, the private sector present pledged MK400 million toward the 34 top schools initiative. Press Trust pledged MK300 million. Other pledges are expected soon, as corporations consult their boards to decide how much they can contribute. We will need to broaden our views on how to finance the education sector so as to raise the MK100 billion. We will need much more than that to achieve the long-term vision of high quality education for every Malawian. 

Speaking when he launched the investor education week earlier on the same Monday, 7th December, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, Dr. Grant Kabango said Malawi's pension assets had reached MK 1 trillion (approx. $1.3 billion) as of 30th September 2020. The Ministry of Education together with the Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning & Development will need to explore how these pension funds, currently lying idle, can be leveraged to finance the much beleaguered education sector.  

Photo credit: © Steve Sharra 

The challenges in our education system ought to be a top priority for us all. Outside private industry and development partners, alumni networks also have the potential of making massive contributions to addressing these challenges. There are countries where alumni take their responsibilities towards their former secondary schools very seriously. In Ghana, for example, alumni form networks that take a direct interest in the state of their former secondary schools. Cabinet ministers, army generals, captains of industries and others who have become influential in society take an active role in the welfare of their former schools, ensuring that they are well managed and adequately resourced, and maintain their national prestige.

Now that the problem of young Malawians who are out of the school system has drawn the attention of the country’s leadership, it is time to have a national conversation on how to address this problem. It must, however, be addressed alongside other equally pressing problems. These include the development of a Malawian philosophy of education, access to inclusive, quality tertiary education, and Malawian adults who never attended school. The Fifth Integrated Household Survey 2020 report, released in November, gives another shocking statistic: 80.7 percent of Malawians aged 5 and above do not have any school qualification.

It will be futile for us to address the problems of the education system, without addressing the broader problem of this large majority who do not have a meaningful education that can help them participate in and contribute to community and national development.  As we gingerly step into the new decade, toward the 2030 agenda, and toward the year 2063 in our long-term national vision and continental aspiration, education, and the teaching profession, will have to take a central role.

Fresh exams: MSCE rerun and the future of education in Malawi

Eighteen days after the Ministry of Education and the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) cancelled this year’s Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination, students now have direction as to what happens next. On Sunday 22^nd November the Ministry of Education released guidelines for secondary schools to follow in preparing for the re-take of the exams. There are still a few grey areas that need clarification, but the guidelines are a welcome action in moving forward. Most importantly, there are lessons to be learned from this national fiasco. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes that led to the mess, or we will risk jeopardizing the future of the education system and the lives of many young Malawians.

Photo credit: Steve Sharra

The press release from the Ministry states that Form 4 students whose exams were cancelled are expected to report back to school on Monday 28^th December. This applies to both public and private schools. No further fees shall be paid, as fees for the third term had not yet been exhausted when the examination was cancelled on 4^th November. The release further states that government will bear the cost of both examination fees as well as practical examinations. The rerun of the MSCE exam shall be completed by the end of January, 2021, therefore newly selected Form 1 students will be expected to report to school on 1^st February 2021. The rest of the continuing students, Forms 2 to 4, are expected back on campus on 5^th January, 2021.

After schools were closed in March due to the covid pandemic, the new MSCE exams calendar was from 27^th October to 20^th November. Massive and widespread leakages and cheating unraveled days after the exams commenced. Papers were shared on social media platforms ahead of their scheduled time. That made it impossible to determine who might have had advance access to the papers and who might not, let alone what paper would leak next. Continuing with the rest of the exams became an untenable position.

Not all 150,000 students would have accessed the papers before sitting them, and the decision to cancel the exam was most painful for those students who did not participate in the cheating. But it was the entire examination and the country’s national education system that were at stake, hence the decision to cancel the exam and do it all over again.  

There have been a few questions and observations that have been asked or raised on various social media forums. Will the government absorb all the exam-related costs for private schools as well? Does this mean Form 4 teachers will not enjoy their New Year’s holiday? With students returning to school and the retake of MSCE commencing a few days later, will schools and students have adequate preparation? As there are some 35 or so days to the 28^th of December, what should schools and students be doing in the meantime?

These are all valid questions, but as others have observed, we are dealing with an unprecedented situation which demands unprecedented solutions. After more than two weeks of silence from the Ministry since the cancellation, teachers, parents and students were becoming anxious as it was not clear what the way forward was. Unscrupulous elements were beginning to fill the void and taking advantage of desperate students.

The Ministry will need to further clarify some issues, but it is very commendable that they have taken the bold decision to own up and take responsibility for the mess. The government’s decision to cover all the costs related to the exams ensures that innocent students are not doubly penalized by paying more fees. Educational policies are meant to be implemented across the system, for both public and private schools. However private schools in Malawi have their own set of dynamics that may require policies and guidelines to be modified to suit particular contexts.

For example, some private schools have already recalled their students as we speak. No wise Form 4 teacher can afford to take it easy and wait until the 28^th of December. Recalling students back to school before the 28^th December entails costs that fall outside the government’s arrangement. Of concern here is the issue of inequality. Some students will have the means to continue preparing for the examinations between now and 28^th December, while many students will not. Schools will need to consult with parents and students and find mutually agreeable ways of utilizing the time between now and the end of December.

When schools re-opened on 7^th September after the covid-19 closure, there wasn’t much time for students to prepare for the exams which were scheduled to start on 27^th October. Many students, especially the less privileged ones, did not have the structures and facilities to allow them to continue learning while they were at home. Many of them felt unprepared when 27^th October arrived. Unfortunately, there is little to suggest that they will utilize the next 36 days in a better way. It will take the foresight of school leaders, the dedication of teachers and the commitment of parents to plan ways of keeping students engaged with their school work as they await the re-take of the MSCE.

Moving forward, there are important lessons to be learned from what has happened. Key to learning these lessons will be the findings from the various investigations that were announced by MANEB itself, the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Ministry of Education. If it was not apparent before this crisis, national examinations are an integral part of the education system and are of national interest. The public has a big stake in the examinations. MANEB is a public institution and runs on taxpayer money. Thus the Ministry of Education must be accountable to the people of Malawi, and they know this.

The MSCE is a high stakes examination. The MSCE can open or shut a door to one’s future. With a tertiary enrollment of 0.8 percent, Malawi ranks at the bottom of global league tables for access to further education. As Professor Paul Tiyambe Zeleza has pointed out, this is a national scandal that needs urgent attention.

The problem is systemic because Malawi’s education sector loses students right from the pre-school level where only one in three children has access to early childhood education. One out of four children is out of school at the primary level, and four out of five youths are out of school at the secondary school level, according to the 2018 national population and housing census. Thus it is the entire pipeline that has a huge access problem, leading to the 0.8 percent tertiary enrollment rate.  

Examinations determine the futures of millions of young people and their families. National examinations also shape the international image of a country’s education system. There are jobs, tertiary education and other career paths awaiting students in their future. These depend a great deal on the integrity of national examinations.

Credit: Steve Sharra

The covid-19 pandemic has thrown an open challenge to rethink education systems for the future. Countries are now searching for ways to keep education systems going even when there are disruptions from pandemics, natural disasters or such other unforeseen crises. Countries must enhance their investments in educational technologies, including traditional ones. Learners must have books both at school and at home. Radios, televisions, computers and even mobile phones are very useful in providing ongoing education. More importantly, teachers must be properly educated in how to use these technologies and educational materials, especially in times of disruptions.

Beginning around 2011/12 MANEB engaged an extra gear in how they approached and prepared for national examinations. They crisscrossed the country engaging stakeholders, including communities, parents, the media and students themselves. This helped key stakeholders take ownership of the process to safeguard the security and integrity of national examinations. This did a lot to minimize incidences of leakages and cheating. When they happened, MANEB was able to move, identify the issue and isolate it, and address it with the relevant processes. The rest of the examinations were able to continue.

Something happened with the 2020 MSCE examinations. It is possible that covid-19 made it impossible for MANEB to do its usual stakeholder consultations and community sensitization of everyone’s role in ensuring the security and integrity of the examinations. As my colleague Dr. Limbani Nsapato observed, there is also the possibility that there were oversight slippages during the months when government parastatals, which include MANEB, went without Boards of Governors as we transitioned from the previous government to the current one. Only the investigations will help us know for sure.

It is therefore imperative that the investigations are carried out and completed, and that the reports are released, and utilized for the retake of the MSCE, and for future examinations. Failure to learn from this will create an existential crisis for the future of MANEB and the country’s educational system.