United Kingdom (UK) has given Malawi K7.8 billion for the construction of more learning facilities for over 30,000 pupils in the country.
The visiting UK Minister of International Development Grant Shapps announced K7.8 billion (£11.6 million) support for the country’s education sector at Namilongo Primary School in Zomba.
“Malawi has a young population, so investing in providing children and young people with quality education is vital to the country’s success. Malawi’s future doctors, nurses, IT experts, teachers and entrepreneurs will help build a nation eventually independent of foreign aid. And with our own historic links to Malawi, particularly those of Scotland, this is also in the UK’s interest, because creating a more prosperous world will benefit us all in the long run,” said Shapps, who is on a three-day official visit to Malawi.”
The programme will also see the start of an exciting collaboration between DFID and USAID to achieve the two agencies’ commitment to supporting primary children to build the basic skills, such as literacy, needed to continue in education and later employment.
DFID will provide up to £7 million to complete educational infrastructure at 48 sites. Many of these sites saw government construction halted in the wake of the 2012 fiscal devaluation and were unable to resume construction subsequently due to a lack of funds.
“DFID will work closely with the Ministry of Education, the Education Infrastructure Management Unit (EIMU) and a Contract Manager to ensure construction is completed at all 48 existing sites. This will open up classroom space for over 30,000 pupils annually.
“DFID will also construct 12 resource rooms as a contribution to UK NGO VSO’s innovative numeracy intervention, called ‘Onebillion’ and also provide £4.4m to scale up USAID’s highly successful Early Grade Reading Activity (EGRA) Programme and ensure that this is built into the curriculum,” said Shapps.
Shapps was appointed as Minister of State at the Department for International Development in May 2015. He was elected the Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield in 2005. Following the 2010 election, he served as Minister of State for Housing and Local Government in the Department for Communities and Local Government.
He was also appointed to the Privy Council in June 2010. In September 2012 he was appointed as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party. At the same time he held the position of Minister without Portfolio at the Cabinet Office.
DFID is also funding a £35.9 million (2012-2018) girls’ education programme to promote equal numbers of boys and girls up to the first two years of secondary school.
The programme is providing 14,000 secondary school bursaries, supporting 100,000 girls with cash transfers, expanding a Teacher Training College in Mzimba to train 256 teachers annually (70% female) and constructing 3,000 latrines in Community Day Secondary Schools.
