1.0. Introduction
Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) which is a coalition of 84 local and international organizations working in the education sector has keenly followed the reforms that are taking place in the education sector, and in between issued a stern warning to government about lack of thorough preparedness on the said reforms. Despite this warning, government vehemently assured Malawians that everything was in place and that their implementation will be at a good note. Evidently against this assurance, it is crystal clear that nothing much than talking has been done to make the implementation of these reforms work and deliver their intentions. Our conscious opinion is that government might be solving few problems while at the same time creating bigger problems that unfortunately, and if not well managed, can paralyze the entire education system. Hence, CSEC wishes to outline the implications of the reforms on the broader economic environment and their consequential effects on access and quality education.
2.0. Unpacking the Policy Reforms and their Consequential Effects
2.1 The Recent Fees Adjustment for Secondary Schools
In its drive to promote cost sharing, Government has increased school fees across the board. For instance, the school fees for MCDE is now MK12, 450 per term while that for community day secondary schools is MK35000 – MK50, 000. A quick analysis shows that tuition fees, text book revolving fund (TRF) and general purpose fund (GRF) have increased by not less than 200%, 300% and 400% respectively. In addition, the national grant aided schools will now be paying MK75, 000 per term. Furthermore, the same circular for the fees revision (Ref. No. C31/1/1) also provides that in situations where parents/ guardian have failed to find school fees and the ward has failed to secure any bursary scheme, the parents can withdraw the ward in that academic year and request for the reservation of a place for the following academic year. By extension, the circular advises the Education Division Managers to make it clear that reservation of a place is only for one year except where a medical condition and other circumstances dictate otherwise.
Although these figures might appear somehow small in the face of the ailing Malawi Kwacha, they are however, undoubtedly, unmanageable to an average Malawian. This is particularly the case for MCDE and Community Day Secondary Schools which are largely servicing the ultra-poor communities. By so doing, only the few elite community will continue to have access to education and this will defeat the cause and understanding of education as a human right. The consideration for reservation of a place for one academic year is a clear manifestation that Government is fully aware that the current fees revisions are too high to most average Malawians. In the same line of thinking, a critical analysis of the circular gives the impression that bursaries earmarked for needy students are inadequate hence it would have better to reduce the percentage increment to allow more students to access education.
While CSEC is not opposed to cost sharing reforms, it is however important that Government should undertake these reforms within the capability of its citizens especially, the average Malawians. This is why Government needs to have a clear bursary plan for the needy students. It is also important that future decisions should take into account proper planning and prior communication in order to avoid panic among the citizenry.
2.2. Introduction of New Curriculum for Secondary Schools
It is undebatable that curriculum reforms ought to be regularly changing as it is usually shaped by the needs of an evolving society. However, it is how it is implemented and the planning processes leading to it that count more.
To date, no mobile laboratories and teachers’ guides have been provided to schools two months before the end of the first term. The implication of this is that the term will elapse without the students being acquainted to the new curriculum which would eventually impact on the comprehension and performance. CSEC therefore strongly desists from believing that this is unintended but rather a clear sign of lacking strategic direction by government and failure to listen to dissenting views.
2.3. Recruitment of ODL 3 and IPTE 8 Trained Teachers
Basing on the government circular, it (government) intends to recruit 19, 400 teachers some of whom have been waiting for redeployment for the past 2 years. While these teachers are yet to be redeployed, Malawi continues registering the highest pupil teacher ratio (PTR) and perhaps the worst worldwide. For example, the general PTR is 1:78 while the qualified PTR is 1:82 but the actual PTR on the ground as of now is 1:150 on average.
As the statistics show, Malawi has failed to achieve the two MGD goals on education evidently because the most needed inputs in education have almost been abandoned. Appreciating the prevailing economic environment that the tax payers are going through, it is unbelievable that a responsible government would at any point afford to spend millions of kwachas to train teachers only to put them on an indefinite vacation. We, at CSEC, find the Ministry’s assurance about its engagement with Ministry of Finance on this matter a face server and not a true reflection of a committed government. This perhaps confirms lack of proper planning on the part of government because ordinarily having trained teachers government should have known way back that these teachers would need to be recruited. Therefore, the issue of recruitment should not have been something new for the government if there was a clear and coherent plan for teacher training and development.
3. Conclusion and Recommendations
It is evident from the preceding discussion that there are just too many big reforms within a short period of time that we need to manage diligently, cautiously and consciously. In addition, while reforms are necessary in the Ministry’s drive to improve education, we note that proper planning and consultations are a must. In view of the following, CSEC would like to make the following recommendations:
- Tuition fees adjustment.
Whilst it is essential to promote cost sharing, government should not lose sight that education is a public service which implies that government has an obligation to provide education to its citizenry. Therefore, Government should revisit the proposed fees adjustments to make them affordable to an average Malawian child under the current economic situation considering that about 80% of the Malawian population lives in rural areas and below the poverty line.
- Teacher recruitment.
As a matter of urgency, government should recruit all the 19, 400 teachers because the government’s planning and budgeting should already have taken care of this, and the schools desperately require these additional teachers. If, unfortunately, it was an oversight by technicians and policy makers, it would be worthwhile for Government to suspend the politically driven initiatives such as the cement and iron sheet subsidy to allow for the immediate recruitment of teachers until enough resources are available for such policies which in any case bring negligible returns if any to the tax payers.
- Implementation of new Secondary School Curriculum Assessment Reform.
With all purposes and intentions, government should expedite the logistical arrangement for the procurement and distribution of mobile laboratories and teachers guides to avoid loss of much time. In addition, all the remaining teachers should be oriented on the new curriculum for them to comprehend and deliver its intentions. This is particularly important because failure of the said curriculum will not only be the failure of current administration, but more so it will be failure of the nation and generations to come.
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