When Angela Phiri, 17, enrolled at Chisu Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) in Nkhata Bay District, her mornings began before dawn.
Long before sunrise, she would wear a uniform, laces up worn-out shoes, sling a tattered school bag over her shoulder and depart her home in Sanje Village for school.
The 17-kilometre walk in the forested hills was punishing, with boys lying in wait to disturb her focus on education.
She occasionally took a K1 000 boat along Lake Malawi, but more often she walked.
Some days, she arrived after the second class—too exhausted to learn.
“I’d try to catch up in class, but my body was too tired. Sometimes I didn’t even hear what the teacher was saying,” she says.
Angela is not alone. Thousands of girls in Malawi walk long distances just to reach the nearest secondary school.
For many, this is a race against time, fatigue, harassment and hunger. Others drop out because they cannot cope with it.
The Ministry of Education reports that out of over 5.3 million learners in the country’s primary schools, only 485 650—about 17 percent—make it to secondary education.
The dropout rate is sharp in primary schools where only 47.5 percent of learners who sit the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PLSCE) examinations transition to secondary school.
And those who make it often do not stay, with about 24 000 students dropping out of secondary school annually and nearly 60 percent being girls.
“The leading causes of dropout among girls are early pregnancies, child marriages, poverty, and the long distances to school. When girls are forced to walk hours each day, they are vulnerable not just to exhaustion, but to harm,” Link for Education Governance executive director Limbani Nsapato says.
At Chisu CDSS, the numbers reflect this struggle.
The school, established in 2005 to serve learners from five surrounding primary schools, enrols only 157 students.
Girls drop out at higher rates than boys.
When Plan International Malawi learned of Angela’s long walk to school, they visited Chisu CDSS and found dozens of girls struggling like her—and many quitting for marriage.
“We realised distance was a threat to girls’ safety and dignity,” says Plan Malawi country director Mwapi Mulumbi.
The organisation, funded by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and RealInvest of Norway, supported Nkhata Bay District Council to build and furnish a hostel designed to house 200 learners.
Angela now has a bed in the new hostel. Living on campus, she wakes up with time to spare, eats breakfast and walks a few minutes to class.
“I once felt like giving up,” she says. “Now, I want to finish school to become a health worker.”
Teachers have noticed the change.
“She’s now more focused,” says head teacher Howard Dunleck. “Not just Angela. Several girls who used to struggle are now among the top performers.”
While it is too early for exam results to tell the full story, Dunleck is optimistic.
“Living closer to school is about more than time,” he says. “It builds confidence, community and ambition.”
But the shortage of girls’ hostels persists. Nationwide, schools continue to grapple with thin resources, scarce textbooks and a shortage of trained teachers.
“Access without quality is not enough,” says Nsapato. “We need a multi-layered approach: infrastructure, bursaries, mentorship and robust teaching.”
The Ministry of Education says the hostel project is part of a “holistic model” to develop human capital in line with the Malawi 2063 vision to transform Malawi into a self-reliant, industrialised, middle-income economy by the centenary of the country’s self-rule.
“These hostels are more than just buildings, but safe spaces where girls can live and learn without fear,” says Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima.
Encouragingly, the dropout rate at Chisu CDSS has declined slightly since the hostel opened early this year.
More girls are staying in school and more are dreaming big.
Back in Sanje Village, Angela’s mother still wakes up early to prepare food for the family. But she smiles knowing her daughter is sleeping and studying safely in the new hostel, not trudging through darkness and dust.
She states: “I was scared she would drop out like many girls here. But I\m proud she still learning.”
Angela, now in Form Three, wants to become a nurse.
“I want to help people,” she says.
Her journey is far from over.
But it is no longer 17 kilometres long.
