Easing self-boarding woes

As the woes that characterise life for secondary students who rent premises near their schools continue, schools, communities, the civil society and individuals are moving in to make life easier for the students. Weekend Nation looks at some of the interventions.

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Many students selected to community day secondary schools find renting rooms a better option than travelling to school daily over long distances, although the circumstances present the students, especially girls, with many challenges.

Among other things, reports of girls resorting to prostitution to raise money, cases of theft, rape and other abuses are common, while poor sanitation and hygiene are the order of the day.

The numerous challenges make learning and studying a hard, and sometimes impossible, for self-boarders, hence the Ministry of Education’s ban on self-boarding which was followed by an order on education division managers to have nothing to do with self-boarding issues.

In spite of a ban, students still resort to self-boarding.

Willard Kampaundi, head teacher at Thawale CDSS in Mwanza said lack of boarding space forces students to rent rooms close to the school. The school has a single 45-bed hostel for girls, which is now housing 57 girls.

“Girls in self-boarding face a lot of problems. We have 113 self-boarders and most of them come from poor homes; some parents give them K2 000 as pocket money for a whole 14-week term. That forces some of the girls into prostitution, and security is an issue,” said Kampaundi.

–Welfare of girls–

According to Kampaundi, a mother group has been established at the school to look into the affairs of the girls in the self-boarding to check the situation. “Besides, we have set up a landlord’s committee to make life easier for the students,” says Kampaundi.

The coming in of charitable organisations has also made life better for some students such as Tadala Chilongo of Namikasi CDSS in Blantyre.

She said although she has to withstand the pain of spending at least two hours every day at a well to draw water before classes, she is now smiling, following a scholarship from a UK-based charity, Against All Odds.

Last year, the charity offered 27 scholarships to self-boarding girls in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Chikwawa and Phalombe after observing the girls’ plight.

“If I were not a self-boarder, I would be walking two hours to and from school. To come to school, I had to raise money by doing piecework in people’s gardens. The scholarship has helped me meet my other needs like school fees,” said Chilongo, who is in Form Three.

According to Against All Odds founder Fikelephi Jackson, she was touched by the appalling conditions in self-boarding schools. Jackson is known the world over as an author and motivational speaker against abuse.

“Each time I think of living conditions in self-boarding circumstances I cry. Most of the girls are living in appalling conditions where they are exposed to so many forms of abuse.

“There are high chances that they can get pregnant or catch sexually transmitted diseases. That is why we offered the scholarships to help the girls get on with their education,” said Jackson.

–Scholarships–

The UK charity which was also registered in Malawi last year is paying school fees for the girls and buying them books, clothes and shoes. Jackson said they plan to build a hostel at the school.

“We are pleased and honoured that the chiefs and community leaders have given us land so we can build dormitories—one for boys and another one for girls. The land and bricks are in place,” said Jackson.

Namikasi headteacher Steve Kungala welcomed the move, saying it will improve the girls’ living standards.

In 2013, four girls on self-boarding were raped at the school due to insecurity.

“We are going a mile further in creating a conducive environment for learners. The noise from the pubs also disturbs the students, so we are looking into instituting a bye-law prohibiting the bars from playing loud music after nine in the night. Bars that defy the bye-law can have their licences revoked by the District Commissioner,” said Kungala.

According to Masautso Tinkhani at Thawale CDSS, the existence of boarding facilities in village settings compromises on their study time.

“Every day, there is a kachasu and masese party in the village. It goes up to the early morning. The noise makes it difficult for us to study. This could nopt be the case if we were in school premises,” said Tinkhani.

According to Kalondolondo Programme manager Jephter Mwanza, the institution of bye-laws by local communities is helping improve the situation in self-boarding circumstances.

“School and community-based stakeholders need to sit together, work out local solutions that can improve security, sanitation of premises as well as protection mechanisms against abuse of girls in self boarding.

“Some communities in Mangochi, Phalombe, Kasungu and Karonga have already set their local bye-laws. That’s the way to go,” said Mwanza, who is fighting for government to reverse the decision banning self-boarding.

The number of pupils in self-boarding is not known.

A 2014 Kalondolondo report on an assessment of 135 schools in nine districts showed that in some schools, communities are finding their own solutions to education challenges. It cites Milonga CDSS in Mulanje, where bricks for the construction of a laboratory were diverted to the construction of boarding facilities after noting that was the greater need.

–Community involvement–

Mangochi South parliamentarian Lilian Patel on Wednesday said it is up for communities to devise means to uproot girls from self-boarding situations.

“In our case, we had a meeting last week where we discussed how we can raise funds to renovate a dilapidated classroom block at Masuku CDSS into a hostel. It is pathetic to see the challenges girls face renting rooms at the trading centre,” said Patel.

As charitable organisations, communities, civil society organisations and other individuals are moving in to ease the suffering of students in self-boarding, the Ministry of Education is waking up to the challenge.

According to the ministry’s acting publicist Manfred Ndovi, government is constructing hostels across the country.

“We are prioritising girls’ hostels in resource allocation…and we are constructing more CDSSs across the country through local development fund window,” said Ndovi.