9.3: Education
The education sector has identified three priority goals. These are to equip students, especially at the basic education level
with basic knowledge and skills to enable them function as competent and productive citizens; at secondary level, to provide
the academic basis for gainful employment in the informal, private and public sectors; and at tertiary level, to produce high
quality professionals with relevant knowledge and skills in relevant fields.
Other Information:
Education is the key for attaining prosperity. It is a catalyst for socio-economic development, industrial growth and an instrument
for empowering the poor, the weak and the voiceless. Education enhances group solidarity, national consciousness and tolerance
of diversity. Government is implementing a number of reforms in order to improve the current situation especially to increase
access and retention at all levels; improve the quality and the relevance of education being provided; improve equity, management
and supervision; and the training of more teachers for both primary and secondary levels. This will be achieved through construction
of additional classrooms, provision of relevant school supplies, training of more teachers and upgrading the existing under
qualified ones. Curriculum reviews and reforms are in progress to improve the relevance of education so that the system can
produce both white-collar job seekers and blue-collar job providers and the self-employed. Effective policies and systems
are being established to enhance equity in education and effective management of the education sector. Improvement and relevance
of the education system in Malawi continues to face a number of challenges due to poor policy decisions made over the past
few years. These have negatively affected the quality and relevance of education being provided especially at primary and
secondary levels. Such policies included the sudden declaration of the Free Primary Education Policy, the conversion of the
former Distance Education Centres (DECs) to Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) and the use of untrained and under qualified
teachers in the system due to inadequate number of professionally qualified teachers. The relevance of education has also
been negatively affected by lack of timely reviews and reforms of the school curricula, consistent with the current national
needs and aspirations, and also through the unwarranted addition of irrelevant subjects to the old curricula and the removal
of relevant subjects such as technical, vocational and entrepreneurship education subjects. Other factors compromising education
quality and relevance include: backward cultural altitudes of education for girls, inadequate infrastructure including for
people with special needs, internal inefficiencies such as high absenteeism, high repetition and dropout rates, and also lack
of school inspection or ineffective supervision and monitoring. These have rendered the system to be inefficient. The completion
rates, pass rates and transitional rates from one class to the next and from one level to the next are very low... Medium-term
Expected Outcomes: At pre-school level, the expected medium term outcome is to have an expanded infrastructure and increased
access. At primary school level the expected medium term outcome is to substantially reduce absenteeism, repetition and dropout
rates. At secondary and tertiary levels the expected medium term outcome is increased access and improved quality and relevant
education for both sexes and students with special needs.
Indicator(s):
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