Civil Society Education Coalition has appealed to the Parliamentary Committee on Education to help push for an increase in the education budget to 20 percent of the national expenditure.
Making the appeal in Lilongwe on Wednesday during a parliamentary engagement meeting on tracking the 2024/25 education budget and analysing the proposed 2025/26 fiscal plan, the coalition’s board chairperson Limbani Nsapato said an expenditure tracking exercise they conducted revealed that critical programmes within the sector remain grossly underfunded.
He observed that although there is progress in the budget implementation based on last year’s performance, there are still gaps, including in the area of allocation.
In the proposed 2025/26 National Budget, government has allocated K1.3 trillion to the education and skills development sector, representing 16.6 percent of the national budget, which is about four percentage points below the Dakar Commitment on Education for All by the African Union for African States to allocate 20 percent of their national budgets to education
Said Nsapato: “The education sector is still receiving far less than the internationally recommended 20 percent of the national budget. We urge the parliamentary committee to fight for the increase in order to align the budget with international commitments.
“We have noticed that there have been significant budget cuts, especially at the mid-year review for development expenditures. This has led to delays in completion of some projects.”
Nsapato, therefore, called on members of Parliament (MPs) to scrutinise the budget and lobby for additional resources towards education to align with the targets in the country’s development blueprint, the Malawi 2063 (MW2063).
In his remarks, Parliamentary Committee on Education chairperson Brainax Kaisi said while the allocated amount may seem substantial, portions of it are designated for projects in other ministries, including early childhood development (ECD) under the Ministry of Gender, Community Development, and Social Welfare, as well as the Technical Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education Training Authority (Teveta) and as allocations under the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture.
He admitted that a number of areas are underfunded, and pledged to lobby the Ministry of Finance and other development partners to increase the resources.
However, Kaisi cautioned that while lobbying for more resources is crucial, it is equally important to ensure that allocated resources are utilised efficiently.
“We have seen many instances where funds are allocated, but not used as intended, leading to significant deficits, which negatively impacts the sector. As parliamentarians, we are also calling for strict monitoring of allocated funds,” he said.
The Education and Skills Development Sector has received the largest allocation to fund classroom construction, university infrastructure, student loans, and curriculum reforms.
