Diocese constructs K56m school block

Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of Karonga Diocese of the Catholic Church has urged parents and traditional leaders to send their children to school instead of using them for farming and grazing cattle.

He said this on Wednesday at Chankholombe Primary School in Traditional Authority Wasambo in Karonga District during the handover of a K56 million school block.

He said: “We constructed the school block after noticing gaps in school resources, health, agriculture and potable water in the district.

“However, this effort will be meaningless if parents and traditional leaders don’t send their children to school. That’s why I have called on them not to use boys in rice schemes and cattle grazing, but send them to school.”

Mtumbuka also reprimanded irresponsible teachers who go to work while drunk, saying such tendency is contributing to dwindling standards of education in the district.

Chankholombe Primary School parents and teachers association chairperson Gowokani Nyirenda commended the diocese for the school block, saying it will ease congestion at the school which has 795 learners.

“However, like the bishop

 said, the challenge is high dropout of boys. We have been engaging traditional leaders to formulate community by-laws on the same and we will continue engaging them,” he said.

Hangalawe Zone primary education adviser Wilfred Sinyiza said the challenge now is lack of a community day secondary school (CDSS) in the area which has resulted in school dropouts due to long distances to either Thunduti or Khwawa CDSSs.

“Again, the challenge raised by the bishop is valid, we have many boys who opt to go to work in rice schemes instead of going to school,” he said.

With funding from the US-based Cross Catholic Outreach, Karonga Diocese is implementing a five-year Community Transformation Project in its three diocesan districts of Rumphi, Karonga and Chitipa.