Malawi has four secondary schools run fully by the Central Government, namely Lilongwe Girls Secondary School, Dedza Government Secondary School, Blantyre Secondary School and Mzuzu Government Secondary School.
These schools draw some of the very brightest children from across the country. Many of these students come from rural communities and disadvantaged backgrounds, yet through hard work and academic excellence, they earn a place in these prestigious institutions.
No wonder their fees are reasonable. It is almost a small thank-you from the nation to children who have worked hard enough to earn their place among the best.
And to show that these schools truly house some of the best academic talent in Malawi, the evidence is before us.
One of the students who scored the highest mark of 9 points in this year’s Malawi School Certificate of Education examinations came from Mzuzu Government Secondary School.
Think about that.
One of Malawi’s very best-performing students came from Mzuzu Government.
These are not ordinary children. They are some of Malawi’s naturally gifted and exceptionally talented young people.
Yet here is the painful contradiction.
At Mzuzu Government Secondary School, these brightest children are sleeping in hostels that are hardly fit for human habitation.
Broken hostel windows. Missing glass. Chilly air blowing into the rooms.
And remember, this is Mzuzu—one of the coldest cities in Malawi. The school is also near Kaning’ina Forest.
Some windows are so badly broken that one wonders what prevents animals, or even snakes, from finding their way inside.
These are children we expect to concentrate on their studies and excel, yet we cannot even give them a decent place to sleep.
The old Kamuzu-era lockers are broken and ransacked. Some hostels have no proper doors. The bathrooms and ablution facilities are pathetic.
Is this really a school run fully by the Central Government?
Do those responsible know what these children are sleeping in?
Do the authorities ever visit the hostels—or do they only see the classrooms when there is a ceremony?
Minister of Education Bright Msaka, you recently went to Blantyre Secondary School to address an ownership wrangle involving the Blantyre Synod.
Now go to Mzuzu Government Secondary School.
Walk through the boys’ and girls’ hostels. Look at the broken windows, doors, lockers and bathrooms.
Then ask yourself one simple question:
Would you allow your own son or daughter to sleep there?
We are taught to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
If the Minister is responsible for these schools, fix this school.
And let us be clear: Mzuzu Government is not a school for Northern Region children.
Its students come from Machinga, Mangochi, Nsanje, Dedza, Karonga, Mzimba, Lilongwe and every corner of Malawi.
So why should children selected from across the country be sleeping in such conditions?
Do not tell children to dream while giving them a nightmare to sleep in.
We may reluctantly accept that the meals are not always the best, but where these children sleep should, at the very least, be safe, decent and dignified.
This we must not compromise as a nation.
Government has the primary responsibility. But Government cannot be the only one called upon to act.
Raiply Malawi Limited: you deal in timber. Mzuzu Government Secondary School needs timber, doors, and lockers.
The doors are broken. The lockers are broken. You have the timber. What are we waiting for?
Go there. See the conditions. Fix them.
That is genuine corporate social responsibility—not using corporate resources to cultivate political favour while throwing your own employees under the bus when trouble comes. Do not think people do not notice how cruelly you treat your own employees. We see it, and we will not remain silent as a foreign-owned company such as Raiply despicably treats local employees that way. If you do not change course, we will be among the first to expose how vile your conduct is, sooner or later.
We may have digressed, but the point is simple: give back where it matters—not to politicians, but to the children of Malawi.
Raiply, this is your opportunity to show us what genuine corporate social responsibility really means.
Glass companies—PG Glass, Capital Glass, GLASSICO and others: go there too. Look at those broken windows.
You do not have to fix everything. Divide the hostels among yourselves.
You fix this hostel. Another company fixes that hostel.
If you cannot fix every window, fix some.
And to Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, our own son of the soil and philanthropist: here is a cause that deserves your attention.
These are poor but exceptionally bright Malawian boys and girls. Some will become doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, and leaders of this country. Go deeper, Major one, for these children. Invest in them.
To the Press Trust: see for yourselves. Inspect the hostels and decide what can be done.
To the alumni: where are you?
A school that gave you a future should not have to beg you for its present.
Come back. Organise. Give something back.
And to the parents and guardians: when you take your children to school, do you see these conditions? Are you honestly satisfied?
Government may be failing, but do not wait for someone else to save your children. Parents can organize through the PTA and contribute towards urgent repairs.
Some things require money. Others require will.
School management must also protect the property. Students who deliberately vandalize school property must face appropriate disciplinary action. Public property cannot simply be destroyed without consequence.
Kamuzu gave us these institutions. He left us an inheritance.
The least we can do is preserve it.
We cannot be the generation that watches such an institution decay while the children inside it continue to excel.
The media has a duty to sound the alarm when something is wrong. That is what a watchman does.
This is the alarm.
Government, fix the hostels.
Raiply, bring the timber.
Glass companies, bring the glass.
Press Trust, go and inspect.
Bushiri, consider helping.
Alumni, come back.
Parents, organize.
School management, protect the property.
And every Malawian with the means to help—do something.
These are not somebody else’s children.
They are our children.
Fix the windows. Fix the doors. Fix the lockers. Fix the bathrooms. Fix the hostels.
The children are already doing their part. Now let the adults do ours.
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