Government to Push for Compulsory Education in Malawi

Malawi-During his State of the Nation Address on Friday, President Lazarus Chakwera emphasized the importance of primary education and his government's commitment to making it compulsory, writes Comfort Bulangete.

"One of our priority commitments in education is to achieve compulsory primary education. As such, we are implementing various projects with billions of investments," he said.

The Malawian President stated that, with the support of the German Government, they have completed the rehabilitation of water and sanitation systems in several colleges, constructed classrooms and teachers' houses, built three furnished teacher training colleges, and recruited 1,800 teacher trainees.

He said they have also trained over 5,000 primary school teachers and recruited over 2,000 primary school teachers, along with over 7,000 auxiliary teachers.

Benedicto Kondowe, Executive Director for Civil Society Education Coalition, supported the idea but stressed the need for strong enforcement strategies, as about 10 percent of children in Malawi are currently out of school.

Mphatso Nkuonera, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, stated that the Ministry is preparing to push for full compulsory primary education, as current enrollment stands at 88 percent.