MoEST in school inspection exercise
The Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST) is carrying out an inspection exercise for both private and public primary and secondary schools to ensure adherence to the set National Education Standards which came into effect in May 2015.
Responding to an emailed questionnaire Wednesday, MoEST acting spokesperson Lindiwe Chide described the exercise as critical in improving quality of education in the country.
She said immediately after the ministry launched the standards, it embarked on an exercise for all school managers from both public and private schools before starting the inspection in the South West Education Division.
The division comprises schools in Blantyre Urban, Blantyre Rural, Mwanza, Neno, Chikhwawa and Nsanje education districts.
Chide said MoEST is working in collaboration with Independent Schools Association of Malawi (Isama) and, so far, 61 private schools have had their conditions reviewed for licensing, 62 inspected for registration and re-registration while 15 public schools and three private schools have been inspected on full inspection purposes.
“The inspection scrutinises more issues, including the quality of teaching and learning in class. However, since the academic year has just started, data that is reported here refers to the period between the end of year 2015/16 holiday and commencement of 2016/17 academic year,” she said.
Chide further said MoEST has issued 19 licences to private schools and is currently processing some for 61 qualifying private schools.
In the past, the ministry was issuing provisional licences that lasted for three years. However, the provision has been abolished in line with the New Education Act (2013).
The current provisions demand that licences for private primary and secondary schools have a five-year validity period on condition that standards are met throughout the period.
Isama president Joseph Patel hailed the ministry for the exercise, saying it was long overdue.
He said: “Remember incidents that happened last academic year where scores of students failed to sit for national examinations just because school administrators swindled examination fees, our investigation found that such schools were not registered. We want parents to be cautious of such schools this time around.”
