Secondary Schools System in Malawi- Introduction

Secondary School Education:Introduction

Secondary school education takes four years from Form 1 to Form 4. Students can attend secondary school in public schools run by the government or in private schools run by the private sector and individuals. The quality of secondary education varies widely in both sets of schools. In general, fees in private schools is more than 50 times that in public schools. For a long time, secondary education was very restrictive in Malawi but this situation is changing positively due to rapid expansion of private schools as well as government run community day secondary schools. A directory of secondary schools in Malawi is available here.

Students in secondary schools sit two examinations, a Junior Certicate Examination (JCE) at Form 2 and a Malawi School Certificate Examination (MSCE) at Form 4. Both of these examinations are set by the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) but jointly administered by MANEB and the Ministry of Education. Performance or pass rate at MSCE have been falling sharply in the last few years reaching a low of around 16% in 1999 prompting a Presidential Commission of Enquiry into the dismal performance. In these recent years MSCE administration has been beset with many serious cheating cases resulting in governemnet cancellation of the examination in 2000 less than one week before commencement of sitting and dismissal of the head of MANEB.

Selection takes place at Form 4 to various colleges including vocational colleges, technical colleges and to the only two universities, the University of Malawi and the Mzuzu University. The latest selection list to University of Malawi is available here.