Long travels to school haunt many children from Mkumbilende Village, Chief Mwabulambya in Chitipa District.
In an ideal situation eight-year-old Jasie Mbembera should be in Standard Three, but she is still in Standard One and spends most school days playing at home.
He enrolled at Kasowa Primary School, about six kilometres from his home, but stopped schooling long ago.
Unfortunately, many children in the rural area dropped out in escape from long walks.
During the rainy season, crossing rivers and wetlands forces most learners to stay home.
“Currently, 56 boys and 11 girls are out of school due to these challenges,” says group village head Mkumbilende.
This denies the 67 the benefits of inclusive, lifelong education, which is pivotal to achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, hunger and equality by 2030.
For Jasie and her peers, the global aspiration remains distant.
“Sometimes children do not quit school because they lack interest in learning, but due to circumstances beyond their control push them out. Schools are too far away,” says Dinnah Kilembe, Jasie’s mother.
She believes rural communities like hers remain excluded in the provision of essential services, including schools, health facilities and road infrastructure.
Local solution
To change their situation, 12 villages under GVH Mkumbilende mobilised local resources to construct a junior primary school closer to their children.
The self-help development, led by Mkumbilende Village Development Committee (VDC), promotes self-reliance and citizen-led development in line with the dream to transform Malawi into a self-reliant, inclusive, industrialised upper middle-income economy by 2063.
Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development strategy that seek to transform the economy to lower middle-income status by 2030 and upper middle-income by 2063, promotes mindset change to unlock local solutions instead of waiting for government or donor support.
Mkumbilende VDC chairperson Wisdom Mulungu says the community members were sensitised to the importance of how to use locally available resources to uplift themselves.
“Tired of seeing many school going children staying home due to long distances, we engaged village heads and community members to construct a primary school in our area,” he states.
The call received overwhelming support from residents.
Each village contributed K2 million, totalling K24 million.
GVH Mkumbilende says: “The school project is a major step towards addressing illiteracy, which has kept us underdeveloped for decades.
“I cannot wait to see the school open for Standards One and Two this September,” he says.
The community plans to construct another classroom block for Standards Three and Four.
“Gradually, we will continue expanding until we have a full primary school,” says the traditional leader.
The community has an ambitious target to construct two teachers’ houses before the next academic year, starting in September.
Chitipa district commissioner Charles Mhone praises the community’s commitment.
“This is the first time in my career as a civil servant to witness a community contributing such a large amount of money towards the construction of a development project.
“Chitipa District Council will roof, plaster and complete the remaining works for this classroom block.”
Mhone further pledged to construct a modern staff house to attract and retain qualified teachers in the remote area.
No child left behind
The self-help initiative comes at a time councils are gearing for the K5 billion Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to boost community development nationwide.
The implementation of the reformed CDF begins this month.
For Jasie and his 66 out-of-school peers, the new school emerging in their community is a chance to return to class, pursue their dreams and secure a brighter future without having to worry about long, perilous daily walks.
As the school blocks rise, so too does the community’s hope that no child will be left behind in the race to ensure everyone learns until their dreams come true.
