Mzuzu Diocese, Nyika Media Club bang heads on education

Malawi: Mzuzu Catholic Diocese has lamented the rising number of school dropouts in the country, particularly among girls, despite several interventions to address the issue.

Isaac Cheke Ziba, Diocesan Education Coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Mzuzu, made the remarks during a media interaction with journalists from the Nyika Media Club in the northern region.

According to Ziba, the Diocese's three-year project in the region has revealed that a significant number of girls continue to drop out of school due to early marriages and financial constraints.

"From 2019 to 2020, we were able to return 217 girls to school, while from 2020 to 2021, 317 girls were forced to return to school as part of our School access and governance improvement project," Ziba explained.

The figures show that there is still a lot to be done to address all of the underlying issues that force girls to drop out of school in the country, he added.

At this point, Ziba called for more funding in the education sector, noting that the funding gap is exacerbating the sector's already dire situation.

In his remarks, Nyika Media Club Chairperson Joseph Mwale urged members of the press to focus more on education, arguing that the focus has been more on politics.

He thanked the Diocese for organising such an interaction, which he said would go a long way toward assisting journalists in writing good stories about education in the country.