Educators tackle violence in schools
Educators in the country have proposed counselling sessions for student teachers and stiff punishments for perpetrators as best practices to curb vandalism and violence in secondary schools.
During a webinar held on Friday by the Education Society of Malawi (Esom) under the theme ‘Addressing the school violence and vandalism epidemic in Malawi’, the educators also called for timely funding for schools.
In his presentation, Justin Mthawanji, a teacher at Nalikule Demonstration Secondary School in Lilongwe, said about 19 schools have been vandalised in the country in recent years.
He said his study found that violence is caused by issues such as lack of transparency at school level, sexual relationships between teachers and students, substance abuse and failure to address students’ complaints.
National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) says it is targeting to disburse K350 billion to at least 300 000 people by March 2029.
Neef chief executive officer Humphrey Mdyetseni said in an interview on Sunday that the target is part of the fund’s five-year strategic plan to be launched on July 25 2024 in Balaka.
“In the strategic plan, we also target to achieve a 90 percent collection rate, to create in excess of two million jobs through the programme having already created over 500 000 to date and to contribute to the middle income status of Malawians that benefit from the programme,” he said.
During the event in Balaka where President Lazarus Chakwera is expected to attend, Neef will also celebrate reaching a K100 billion loan disbursements against a target of K75 billion in its first phase between 2021 and 2024.
According to Mdyetseni, the milestone was reached in April this year, but the celebrations were shifted to this month.
He said that during the first phase, Neef has disbursed over K120 billion to more than 175 000 clients with 80 percent repayment rate.
In May this year, Neef credit manager Whyghtone Mweta told The Nation that the fund had collected about K66 billion and that K20 billion was defaulted.
The fund was rebranded from Malawi Enterprises Development Fund (Medef) in 2020 with a mission to economically empower ordinary and under-served Mal awi ans par t i cul a r l y women, youth, and persons with disabilities through the provision of quality, affordable and sustainable microfinance services for improved livelihoods.
Former minister of Finance Fel ix Mlusu said in the 2020/21 budget statement that the fund was expected to support the creation of 200 000 enterprises which would in turn create over 600 000 jobs.
