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Malawi has been divided into six Education Divisions namely:-
These Education Divisions
comprise of 4-6 Education Districts. These divisions are
further divided into zones and each zone has 6 - 10 primary schools.
On average a single primary school contains up to 3000 pupils
and an average of 350 teachers.
This form of grouping is done for easy management of the schools.
Every year the Ministry of Education
prepares an Annual Primary School Census Questionnaire which is distibuted to every
primary school. The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out general
information about the school.This information includes:-
This is only done in
government primary schools. For private schools to be
recognised they obtain a license from the government and after registering
they get a center number so the center can administer Primary School Leaving
Certificate Examinations.
For a private primary school
student to get selected to a government secondary he has to apply directly
to the Ministry of Education so that they can decide his eligibility.
The introduction of Free Primary Education in Malawi has seen a large increase in the number of children going to primary school. In effect more Malawians are being educated and hence the whole nation is moving towards a more literate and a well-informed society with sound judgement and reasoning, where individuals are able to communicate with each other on the same level. A basic education is essential for someone to understand how the world works and to appreciate the value of the property one has. In Malawi it is essential for each individual to be able to appeciate what one has. Education helps build ideas in ones mind, without basic education even an intelligent child would not be able to develop to his full potential.
Despite the advantages free education has also brought with it a lot of problems: -
Most children start formal education at the age of six. And since most of the children attending primary school are between the ages of 6 - 14 and are aslo in large numbers it is difficult for the government to provide protection for students, some of the protective measures put in place include: -
When a child goes to primary school it is at the age when he is keen to learn and explore and also a time when children need more guidance. The general behavior of primary school children in Malawi is decent and has resulted in a high passrate in the Primary School Leaving Certificate Examinations.
Most of the children are willing to listen to their teachers and learn from them, but it is very difficult to discipline a class of 200 children and hence some rowdy behavior still develops.
Most problematic behavior is seen in higher classes e.g. standard seven and eight where young girls have to dropout of school due to teenage pregnancies. Most of this also results from the fact that children are starting school at an older age and therefore reach adolescence while still in primary school. There are many NGOs that are looking into problems of this nature and are working with the government to help prevent such outcomes.
The primary school education takes eight years from standard 1 to 8 at the end of which pupils write the Primary School Leaving Certificate examinations. These are set, conducted and marked by the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB). All the results are then sent to the Ministry of Education, which sets the standards for selection to National Secondary Schools. The results are then sent to the districts for selection into Community Day Secondary Schools. Committees consisting of Headmasters from cachement primary schools and the Community Day Secondary School in question select students to go to this school.
If a child is selected and cannot afford secondary school fees bursaries have been set aside by the government so that no child should fail to go to get a secondary school education because of lack of funding.
Girls who are pregnant at the time
secondary school starts are allowed to take time off and just register
with the school and start in the next academic year. One might argue that
this encourages students to miss behave but it has been observed that the
students given this opportunity come back stronger and more determined
to continue with their education and are among the most successful in their
classes.