Girls’ future blurred by poor education prospects

As the world commemorated International Day of the Gild Child today, I look at the stumbling blocks that girls in Malawi encounter in government’s quest to get more girls educated.

From this year’s Sadc Heads of Government and State Summit in Lilongwe, the continental and regional dream for the girl child flashed past: long-standing, well-documented, far from fulfillment, though still attainable. The capital city was a hive of activity, with policy makers and opinion changers exploring how the countries are domesticating and implementing the African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (Sadc) gender protocols to which they are part of.

In Malawi, which ratified the Sadc Protocol during the summit, this entails doubling the strides and speed to make sure every girl child achieves her potential in a male-dominated society facing the pressing need to make gender equality and women’s empowerment work.

The girl child’s lofty dreams were perfectly personified by SOS Village pupil Maria Phikani, 6, during the 10th anniversary of the AU Protocol on Rights of Women which was happening on the sideline of the Sadc summit.

Sporting a traditional headgear and scarf on the shoulder like President Banda, the six-year-old faced the first female head of State in the region and her AU counterpart Nkosazana Dhlamini-Zuma, singing: “When I become the president, I will be doing this!”. She waved the crowd at Golden Peacock Hotel with burning passion.

“Education is the epicentre of women emancipation,” said Mozambique’s president Armando Guebuza.

This is not far from what the Malawi said during the 80th anniversary of her alma mata, Providence Girls Secondary School, earlier this year.

“Education is not a luxury, but a necessity in a struggle against poverty,” said Banda.

But in Mangochi, proximity to Lake Malawi, prevailing harmful practices saw 81 of 524 female pupils dropping out at Nalikolo Primary School last term. According to teachers, three of them were compelled to quit due to pregnancies. Also gone with the girls were 66 boys, a majority of whom started fishing due to the allure of money.

The school is near a busy fishing port. Boatloads of fish dock there. As the boys go fishing, at night and during school hours, the girls sell doughnuts, fritters and other confectionaries.

So high is the circulation of money among the fisher folk that some teachers confess borrowing up to K10 000 from their learners. The pupils do not see any reason to work hard in school because they earn enough money, he said. He explained that the poor girls’ desperation sometimes lands them unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and Aids and more poverty.

“With time, the girls, who sell the doughnuts start engaging in sex escapades with fishermen and fish-mongers because they are desperate for money to buy new clothes and other niceties during market days, which happen twice a day. Eventually, they stop attending school due to pregnancies or marriages,” narrated the teacher.

This worsens the dropout rates of girls who lack role models. The nearest secondary schools to Nalikolo Primary School, Malumbe and Ntuwa, are about 15km away. Some repeat Standard Eight several times with the hope of being selected to a boarding school.

This is not all that militates against girls education in Mangochi. According to the district’s assistant community development officer Brighton Chunga, some school-going girls, without their knowledge, are married to suitors working in South Africa by their parents who get blankets, clothes and other goods in return.

Besides, chinamwali (initiation rites), kusasa fumbi, kusasa mauta and other cultural practices compel girls to engage in unprotected sex to shake off perceived calamities.

“When a goat tastes salt, it craves more and starts doing it again and again,” says Chunga.

But the girl child is not a goat. She is a human being equal to any other. She needs to remain in school to become a shining example for others in a society where girls grow up being socialised in their role as home-makers and mothers.

As a result, while boys are encouraged to get educated so that they can support their families in future, girls are made to stay home and do household chores in the belief that when they grow up, they will have a man to look after them.

“Girls are on a free range because their parents don’t value education and there is no proper follow-up on how they are doing in school,” says Joe Magombo, deputy education manager in the district where 54 in every 100 people cannot read and write.

He says the figure largely constitutes women as almost one in three girls quit school before Standard Eight.

To reverse the situation, traditional authorities in Mangochi have come up with by-laws which prescribe a fine of goats and chicken for any parent or guardian keeping girls under the age of 18 out of school.

While the by-laws are waiting for the signature of the district commissioner, government and its partners have stepped up community sensitisation in the hard-to-reach Mulumbe zone where Nalikolo lies.

Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) is working with mother groups to lessen the impact of early marriages and encourage pregnant girls to school after giving birth in line with the National Readmission Policy the Ministry of Education adopted in 1993.

Creative Centre for Community Mobilisation (Creccom) is also implementing a project to promote girls education, strengthen civil society involvement, influence policy and support girls to seize the second chance the policy offers.

In an interview, Creccom programme officer Caleb Pemba said the main problem is that parents do not seem to value education.

“The situation in Mangochi is a symptom of a bigger problem in the country. Most parents believe girls will be well off just by marrying well-to-do men such as the fishermen and those who go to South Africa for manual labour. There is need for more awareness campaigns and role models to show the hidden importance of education,” said Pemba.

However, the country, which boasts the continent’s second female president after Liberia’s Sirleif Johnston, must overcome gaps in girls access to education to achieve gender equality.