‘Malawi needs to do more to advance education’
I am writing this piece from the heart; a heart filled with despair seeing a generation of uneducated children in Malawi. As a child, I remember clearly my parents instilling in me the importance of education. As a parent, I have done the same for my children.
Learning is hard as it requires both commitment and dedication. As a growing child, I didn’t always see the value of education because children see things differently. It is for our parents to guide and take the responsibility of ensuring children go to school and attain good education. Good parents always want their children to do better than they did in as far as their education is concerned.
One may argue: “I never went to school, but am doing well”! This may be true, but gone are the days when people succeeded with little education. Many jobs now require not less than a university degree as an entry point.
It is a fact that illiteracy is one of the major causes of poverty, which creates low self-esteem in a person. Poverty is a cruel phenomenon as it dictates where you can or cannot go. I have observed the inability of some parents to ensure their children attend school due to their own lack of understanding and different sets of values and priorities. This is often true when you are poor as poverty clouds judgement. Without guidance, the chain continues from one generation to another and becomes a generational curse.
How can we break this chain? How can we ensure that Malawian children are in schools? Statistically, less than 70 percent of the population of is educated. As a result, Malawi will not meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number two; to achieve universal primary education. This is a sad state of affairs. Education should be high on the list of priority to ensure future generations are highly educated and have something to be proud of.
As it stands, there is no law to force a parent to send his/her child to school. The argument presented by parents in the lower class is in affordability to send children to school. This is true in most cases because despite goverment implementing free primary education, most schools demand payments for various needs and bills. How can a guard, a maid, gardener send his/her child to school on a K15 000 or less monthly wage manage?
The government of the day must support families on low income with their children’s education if Malawi is to become self-sufficient and less reliant on external assistance. If education is not at the forefront, Malawi will continue to rely on donors.
I support local children in my area with education and extra curriculum activities to help them with reading, writing and mathematics once a week. The reward is food. Parents send their children for free food because they struggle to feed the children.
We need parents to become more responsible and accountable with ground rules set in their homes. This can only happen with government’s intervention in highlighting the importance of education.
I see children aged between 8 – 15years-old unable to read, write or construct a sentence in English.
In the wake of Cashgate, politicians should start setting good examples; stop the misuse of public funds. The poor also cast their votes for a change; a change which they hope will improve their lives and the lives of the families and children. Therefore, it is imperative that all politicians be held accountable.
Every child has the right to good education as much as they have a right to good health. As Malawians, we should advocate for better education for our children and for their children’s children.
I dream of a future where Africa leads in the global market. We can do it because we are a great continent. Let not our children perish due to of lack of knowledge.
—Catherine Sekwalor, contributor
