UK partners with Malawi to boost girl education

The United Kingdom is committed to partnering with Malawi to boost girl’s education as one way of addressing challenges young females face in society, Her Excellency the First Lady Madame Monica Chakwera has been told.

Madame Chakwera was hosted at the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs office in London by UK’s Special Envoy on Girls Education Helen Grant who hailed Malawi’s strides and commitment towards girl’s education.

“Despite the policies and strategies we have put in place, we still need more classrooms, improved learning environment such as toilets and desks for the young girls to stay in school. This is where we need everyone’s hand to ensure our girls stay in school,” the First Lady told her hosts.

Madame Chakwera who was accompanied by Minister of Education Agness Nyalonje, said the country has only 47,000 classrooms out of the required 90 000 classrooms and a deficit of close to 4 million desks for all learners in primary schools.

“Some of our cultural norms which prefer male kids to be educated as young girls are continuously engaged in domestic chores which make them too tired to concentrate on education. Covid 19 has worsened the situation, girls getting pregnant or into early marriages,” said the First Lady.

In her remarks, Grant who is also a British Member of Parliament said she was impressed with Malawi’s commitment to educating the girl child and pledged to travel to Malawi to appreciate the efforts on the ground and see areas which the UK Government could partner with Malawi.

The First Lady is in the UK as part of the Malawi Government delegation to the Global Education Summit 2021.