Govt, USAid empower Standard One teachers
Ministry of Education in collaboration with USaid/Malawi Next Generation Early Grade Reading (NextGen) Activity is training Standard One and Two teachers to improve their capacity.
Speaking during the launch of the national teachers training on Thursday in Blantyre, the ministry’s director of quality assurance Golden Msilimba said the ministry is targeting to reach 23 685 Standard One and Two teachers in the country’s 34 education districts.
He said: “The training seeks to reinforce teachers’ fidelity of instruction in implementation of the National Reading Programme [NRP].
“Malawi 2063 states that by 2063, our children shall walk tall in the corridors of the global economy while no longer relying on the goodwill of others to survive and thrive.”
Msukuma said the 2021 NRP data assessments show that almost all Standard Two learners do not meet the internationally defined minimum proficiency standards in reading, in both Chichewa and English.
USaid/ Malawi education office director Jull Jupiter Jones said the training sessions are taking place in all 522 teacher development centres across the country.
“This hands-on training will equip teachers with appropriate skills and knowledge on how to effectively teach reading, using the curriculum and supplementary materials,” she said.
One of the participants, Alice Golozera, a teacher at Kapeni Demonstration Primary School, said the training equipped her with skills that will be useful in various schools.
Government and the United States Agency for International Development (USaid) is implementing the NRP to improve the delivery of high-quality early primary reading instruction, targeting Standard One and Two learners in the country’s primary schools.
