Karonga’s invisible school has one teacher, no support

Hope Nkhonjera, 16, from Kalumbukalira Village, Traditional Authority Wasambo in Karonga District, dreams of becoming a doctor.

However, his school is neither registered nor recognised by the Ministry of Education.

Every morning, the Standard Five learner and 111 other learners wake up early and walk to Chigonabweka Junior Primary School constructed by the community in 2021 to save them from a 12-kilometre walk to the nearest school.

“This has saved us from spending 90 minutes on the road, but we have one teacher who teaches Standard One to Six. Other setbacks to my dream are lack of teaching and learning materials, shortage of teachers and school blocks,” says the learner

At Chigonabweka, six classes use only one school block with two classrooms, no desks and no textbooks.

“Government should help us,” says Hope.

Recently, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) toured the ‘invisible’ school under Fighting Inequalities Project.

During the visit, the campaigners decried glaring gaps in the quest for equitable access to quality basic education.

Quality education and skills development are some of the anchors of the third Malawi Growth Development Strategy.

T h e N a t i o n a l Education Policy calls for a coordinated approach to the development of the education system for relevant knowledge, skills, competencies and values necessary for the socio-economic development of the nation.

“The goal of the policy is to promote equitable access and equity to education and improve relevance, quality, governance and management of the education sector,” it reads.

However, learners at the rural school say this will remain a far-fetched dream unless authorities address their challenges.

Chigonabweka School Management Committee (SMC) chairperson Jackson Mwafulirwa asks the Ministry of Education to support the community’s efforts by providing q u a l i f i e d t e a c h e r s , classrooms as well as the necessary teaching and learning materials.

“Having constructed this school block three years ago, we thought government would swiftly come in with resources. We want our children to learn and help develop our country,” he says.

According to Mwafulirwa, the community made bricks for the sole block to reduce dropout rates fuelled by long walks to the nearest primary schools at Mtambo or Kapilikalanda.

“We also constructed foundations for two more blocks to make Chigonabweka a ful l primary school,” he says.

By default, lone teacher Godfrey Mhango is the school’s head teacher. The community lured him from Kapilikalanda in 2021 to save the dire situation.

Every day, he hops from one class to the other, teaching 112 learners, almost double t h e g o v e r n m e n t ’ s recommended ratio of one teacher for 60 learners.

He explains: “I started teaching as a volunteer in 1999 at Kapilikalanda where I was getting K15 000 monthly.

“Here, I’ve been getting K25 000 every month since 2021. I combine classes, one and two, three and four and five and six as I cannot teach all the six alone.”

Mhango also uses his stipend to buy chalk, pens and other basics.

“The school doesn’t get any support from government,” he says.

The man says he struggles to feed his family of six, but keeps teaching to help the children from his community learn and transform the underserved community.

“I’m a victim of a similar problem. My children never went far with education due to long walks to school,” he says.

The teacher’s highest qualification is a Junior Certificate.

While the ministry remains indifferent, Wa s a m b o A r e a Development Committee has provided 50 cement bags, 10 window frames, two door frames, two doors and eight mesh wires for the school project.

Karonga District Council director of education, youth and sports Sarah Khozi Jere says the school does not exist.

“It’s difficult for me to comment because that school is not registered with our system,” she says.

CCJP advocates equal distribution of public r e s o u r c e s t h r o u g h the project funded by Norwegian Church Aid and DanChurch Aid.

Its desk officer Obert Mkandawire says it is unfortunate the remote school does not have qualified teachers.

“It is surprising that during elections, ballot papers get to this area yet authorities fail to provide basic social amenities, including teachers and decent learning facilities for young Malawians”.

Education expert Charles Maluwa says the country will not achieve Malawi 2063 without investing in quality education for human capital development.

“You can’t have one volunteer, an unqualified teacher, handling so many pupils in different grades and expect education quality to improve, “ he says.

“Where do learners who pass examinations at standard six go for standard seven?”