Communities at Chileka in Blantyre District have expressed excitement with plans by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) to construct information and communications technology (ICT) laboratory at Kachanga Primary School in the area.
Speaking on Friday during the groundbreaking ceremony, the school’s head teacher Alice Njiragoma noted that the school has benefitted from the Connect a School Project despite the initiative mainly targeting community day secondary schools.
pass rate. | Wisdom chirombo
She said the project will modernise learning at the school as pupils will be able to use the Internet to access information.
“Our hope is that this will improve the pass rate and contribute to mindset change among the learners,” said Njiragoma.
On his part, Blantyre West Constituency immediate past legislator Isaac Kaneka said it was important that children in the area get ICT training at grass root level.
Macra head of information technology Steven Perete said the authority’s expectation is that students in the rural areas will have access to technological skills which will provide them with a platform to contribute to the achievement of Malawi’s long-term development strategy, Malawi 2063.
This is the second phase of the Connect a School Project and 120 laboratories are expected to be built nationwide by March 2026.
Each laboratory will have a capacity of 60 computers, but 30 computers will be installed at the time of commissioning with each connected to the Internet.
During the first phase of the initiative, Macra through Universal Service Fund constructed 75 laboratories in schools nationwide.
