Ministry against summer lessons

Government has insisted that schools must stop offering lessons outside the designated school calendar as the tendency perpetuates inequality among learners.

The sentiments come after some players in the education sector queried a July 21 order that the Ministry of Education issued, saying no school will be permitted to operate outside the calendar.

In an interview yesterday, Secretary for Education Chikondano Mussa said the school calendar is designed to cover all topics, including revision and preparation for examinations,thus it was wrong to cash in on holidays as that perpetuates inequality.

She said: “We package our curriculum in such a way that we calculate time, so that within a term, so many topics are covered! This has been tried and tested.

 “To think of a fourth term and expect parents to be paying is unfair. There is a law which says that children should learn not less than 190 days and not more than 205 days a year.”

Mussa said it was unfortunate that some want to take them away through summer terms when they also need to be with their parents.

Education expert Steve Sharra yesterday supported the government’s decision, saying the ban will bring order in the school system and  allow learners to rest.

 “But we also have a huge problem with teenage pregnancies and early marriages, and the holidays expose learners to such hazards. Parents, therefore, want their children to be kept preoccupied so as to keep out of trouble.”

However, Edukans country director Limbani Nsapato said the ban is wrong, as those in private schools have a choice on what to do to uplift standards in their schools.

But president of the Independent Schools Association of Malawi (Isama) Wyclife Chimwendo Banda said the schools are only trying to help learners, and they do not allow their members to charge them extra fees.

The next education calendar starts on September 11 2023.