Female lecturers tip Machinga girls on education excellency

Female lecturers from public universities on Tuesday tipped secondary school girls in Machinga on how they can excel in their education.

The lecturers from Polytechnic, Chancellor College and Malawi University of Science and Technology met the girls in Liwonde at an interface meeting organised by Campaign for Female Education.

Almost 100 female learners from Mpiri, Puteya, Machinga, Liwonde, Mbejere secondary schools were enlightened on the different careers offered at the public universities.

A polytechnic lecturer, Gertrude Sitolo encouraged the learners to work hard and avoid situations that would put them in danger of dropping out of school.

“Always strive to be the first and the best in your studies. Don’t rush into marriages because marriage can wait,” she said.

Sitolo who is a dean of students at Polytechnic said university education is for everybody; hence, girls, including those coming from less to do families should strive for university education.

She added that performance is the only yardstick for one to be selected to university.

Sitolo then disclosed that those who scored of less than 20 points in MSCE have more chances of being selected to the university.

Machinga District Council’s director of education, youth and sports, Yobu Makina described the interface meeting as important for girls to explore their career path.

“At Camfed family, we are very proud that you are still in school, but we want you to make us more proud by being among those selected to pursue university education,” he said.

He said the support the girls get from Camfed will be meaningful if they are selected to the university.

Makina, who is chairperson for Machinga Community Development Committee, a committee that manages Camfed programmes in the district, urged the girls to make good use of the female lecturers’ advice.

He then thanked the lecturers and teacher mentors for their willingness to support the education of girls in the district.

He expressed worry that many girls do not finish school because of early pregnancies and early marriages.

“We always enroll many leaners at lower primary school level, but as they go up, the number declines,” he said.

One of the learners, Alinafe Symon, said the interface meeting inspired her to work hard and make her dream of becoming an engineer a reality.

“I had no idea as to what it takes for me to be selected to university, but now I know what to do,” she said.