Education for All in MW: A pipe dream?

Education for all has always been a song for many decades in Malawi.

This was firstly shown in the reign of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the country's first president.

However, this goal seems not to be accomplished and is still facing some challenges in the current government.

Majamanda Phiri (not his real name),a student at Malawi University of Business and Applied Science, formally known as Polytechnic, says that at tertiary level, they are facing a lot of challenges which are making education to be for those from well to do families.

"I am a living witness of the problems that are faced in many universities in the country. I am living out side the campus just to access cheap accommodation for it if not simple to find a place in the campus,” he says.

“For example, there are some guys who are selling and owning hostel rooms and they are doing that for business purposes and the rooms are too expensive favouring those with hot pockets to have access.”

He says it is for this reason that he is living outside the campus.

“I had to look for good houses with little rentals which are of my level.This affects my academic performance for I have to walk a long distance to and from class, sometimes I fail to attend library during night hours in fear of being attacked,” he says.

Majamanda also says that lack of school loans and shortage of food are some of the main challenges which are hindering education in tertiary levels

He says that with higher tuition fees, many fail to sit for their end of year examinations which is also a big challenge.

Despite all these challenges, “Education for all” remains one of the sustainable development goals in landlocked Malawi.

The student calls on government, organisation and all to join hands together in improving qualities of education mainly in tertiary level.

He, however, adds that it is possible to create a better Malawi with well equipped future leaders.