Education Ministry to use 5 Strand Strategy
The Ministry of Education has embarked on a Five Strand Education Foundation Strategy to improve learning outcomes to at least 79 percent by 2030.
Through a virtual address on the first-ever, 2023 Foundational Learning Exchange (FLEX23) Summit, taking place in Freetown, Sierra-Leone, Minister of Education Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima said the 5-Strand Education Foundations Strategy is a game changer for Malawi.
She said: “Through this strategy, we will provide relevant support to teachers of standards 1 to 4, improve training and deployment of teachers, redesign curriculum and improve its resourcing, and expand school feeding coverage to all schools. We will also digitalise education for access, quality, efficiency and resilience.”
Kambauwa Wirima said to implement the strategy, the ministry will build on the National Reading Programme (NRP) funded by the United States Government and the National Numeracy Programme (NNP), funded by the UK Government.
“Building on these two programmes, we have embarked on a six-year spotlight initiative called the Building Education Foundations through Innovation and Technology (Befit) Programme (2023-2029),” she said.
Kambauwa Wirima said through Befit, teachers will be equipped with digital and innovative support skills while learners will learn at their own speed through tablets with a well-researched, global award winning software, in addition to teacher-led lessons.
“We believe that if we pursue the 5 Strand Education Foundation Strategy, including the spotlight Befit programme, learning outcomes will be improved to at least 79 per cent in line with our Malawi 2063 first 10-year implementation plan, MIP1 (2021-2030),” she said.
The minister called on partners interested in transforming education in Malawi to join the coalition to effectively implement the strategy.
An expert on education matters Limbani Nsapato said any programme or strategy aimed at improving education standards is welcome in the country but advised that new strategies need sound planning to succeed.
The FLEX23 conference ended with the signing of a Ministerial Communiqué which emphasizes translating into action the commitments to foundational learning made at the Transforming Education Summit (TES) during the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly held in 2022, and the recommendations of the 2022 Unesco “Born To Learn” report.
