Uncovering Nseula’s success in school business

Since Malawi liberalised the market at the return of multiparty democracy in the early 90s, the country has registered an increase in the number of private schools offering early childhood development (ECD), primary and secondary education.

At almost every corner of the city or town, you will be greeted by signs and notices, making an impassioned appeal to parents and guardians to enroll their wards at these schools.

Regrettably, a majority of them do not have the requisite infrastructure. In fact, you would be forgiven for mistaking some of the school’s structures for rubbles or animal kraals.

And as if that is not enough, most of the schools do not have well qualified teachers although they claim otherwise.

Managing Director (MD) of Kirk Range Private Primary School in Blantyre, Gertrude Nseula, acknowledges the existence of this problem in the private schools, but challenges her institution is an exception.

Nseula says she values education as a critical component that drives the social and economic transformation of every society across the globe.

“We believe in providing quality standard of education in line with government rules and regulations. And that’s the secret behind our success,” she explains.

She adds: “We also believe that provision of education in substandard structures affects the mindset and general performance of pupils in their studies.”

Nseula says she ventured into an education business to assist government in resolving problems affecting this sector.

She says Kirk Range Private Primary School, located at Area 5 in Machinjiri, boasts of experienced teachers who undergo further trainings to boost their expertise in teaching.

“We believe that further training of teachers is critical in preparing them to respond to the emerging issues in the education sector. In fact, this school was born to respond to the emerging issues in the education sector. As such, regular training of teachers remains one of our pillars,” explains the MD.

She further discloses that before establishing the institution—which currently has 657 pupils in reception and primary school—the proprietors conducted research, which indicated that school conditions and environment contribute more to learning among pupils than family characteristics.

And building the findings of this research, the school has focused on improving teaching and learning, creation of an information-rich environment, building of a learning community, continuous professional development, involvement of parents, and ensuring increased resources to the facility.

Further, the institution provides school-feeding services to enhance hard work and concentration among pupils.

“That’s why our school remains the best a parent or guardian can choose for their children,” narrates Nseula.

Christina Jegere, a mother whose daughter scored 100 percent in mathematics at Kirk Range Private Primary School, says she does not regret the choice she made for her child.

Jegere says she is particularly happy that, apart from receiving shoes and others gifts for their exceptional performance, her daughter was further awarded a scholarship by the office of the District Education Manager (DEM) to study at Joyce Banda Foundation from Forms1 to 4.

“The scholarship has relieved me of the burden I was supposed to carry for the next four secondary school years of my child. I thank management and staff of Kirk Range Private Primary School for this,” she chuckles.

But Nseula says the best results the school has so far achieved will not blind management to stop conducting regular evaluation of policies and programmes to ensure the institution is at pace with the prevailing conditions in the education sector.

“We are investing more resources to ensure the school is fully equipped with teaching and learning materials at all times,” she narrates.