Poor students’ options dwindle

The Catholic Diocese of Dedza plans to privatise grant-aided Mtendere Secondary School in a move education activists fear will limit poor students’ options to access quality education.

The decision, to be effected from the 2026/27 academic year, will see the school located in Malirana, Dedza District joining other previously grant-aided schools such as Zomba Catholic, St John’s in Lilongwe, Marymount in Mzuzu, Ekwendeni Girls in Mzimba and Henry Henderson Institute (HHI) in Blantyre which went commercial.

Under the grant-aided arrangement, the Catholic Church, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Anglican Church, among others, partnered government and opened their schools to the cream of candidates based on performance in Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education examinations. Each party to the agreement bears obligations to fulfil.

In an interview yesterday, Dedza Catholic Diocese Vicar General Father John Chithonje said there were some factors in the grant-aided arrangement that derailed efforts to improve the quality of education at Mtendere; hence, the decision to go private.

He said: “As a diocese, the school has served the nation through the government for more than 50 years. So, as a proprietor, we want also to use the school to save its identity as a diocesan school.

“It has been an outstanding school in the nation, so we want to do more. We thought it wise that by turning it into private secondary school we can easily improve the standards of education at the school.”

In a communication dated August 14 2023 signed by Mtendere Secondary School head teacher Amon Masanda, he informed parents and guardians about the plans.

The communication said that following the decision, Ministry of Education will not select Form One students to the school in the 2023/24 academic year.

“This means the current cohort will be phased out completely in 2025/26 academic year,” reads the communication in part.

Ministry of Education Principal Secretary Chikondano Mussa in an interview yesterday said her ministry has been holding meetings with Dedza Diocese on its decision to privatise the school.

When asked about measures put in place to ensure that learners from economically vulnerable families also have access to the best education, she asked for more time as she was in a meeting.

But Civil Society Education Coalition executive director Benedicto Kondowe expressed worry that the decision would affect access to secondary education by children from poor families who were selected by government.

He noted that most marginalised families cannot afford to pay school fees in private schools.

Said Kondowe: “It means children from marginalised group will no longer have access to the school. According to information we have gathered, the school was constrained in terms of further development that would lead to the improvement of the education standards.

“So government should look into such agreements to avoid similar issues in future. We should protect what we have.”

Mtendere Secondary School has over the years produced some of the outstanding personalities in the country, including President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice-President Saulos Chilima.

A former student of the school yesterday also rued the decision and similar ones taken by other grant-aided schools.

He said the move will limit access to quality education for students from poor families.

The former student, now a manager at one of the commercial banks, said: “Without such schools some of us tikanavutika, sibwenzi tili pomwe tili [we could not have made it in life].

“This school produced the President and the Vice-President of this country. I wish they were able to intervene because I know they will understand better what I am saying.”

In recent years, government has struggled to fulfil obligations under the grant-aided arrangement, according to insiders. They say this has been the driving factor for partners to pull out.

The church-owned grant-aided schools are classified at the same level as Ministry of Education-owned national secondary schools such as Blantyre, Dedza, Mzuzu Government and Lilongwe Girls and they are a preserve of the best performers in primary schools.

Collectively, the national schools have produced leaders in various sectors of the country’s economy over the years.