By Jane Changwada
Lilongwe 24 November 2015: Harmful cultural practices are one of the major factors contributing to inequitable schooling environments in Malawi. It takes three months for children in Group Village M`bwana Kawinga in Machinga district to attend initiation camps resulting in a lot of children failing to start school at the appropriate time.
Girls following initiation school are given away in marriage as they are regarded as adults following the start of menstruation. According to Abiti Paulo, one of the initiation counsellors in the village, the cultural practice is done for a period of three months, following which “girls from initiation camps were given a chance to get married.”
A 2015 Education for All (EFA) report states that 100 million children do not finish primary education and research reveals that harmful cultural practices add to girls continued disadvantage in accessing education as they tend to household chores specific to Malawi. Some are forced into early marriages.
According to a UN – Women 2015-2016 Progress report, poverty deepens gender disparity in primary school education completion. Despite overall progress in reducing gender disparity in primary attainment since 2002, the poorest girls still face sever disadvantages in entering and completing primary education (EFA – 2015 report).
According to the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development Barometer, Malawi is among the countries in SADC which has achieved 50% attainment of gender parity. Echoing this is a Malawi Education Commission report 2014, which recorded for 2014, only 11% of girls in standard five and 15% of girls in standard eight dropped out of school.
As we commemorate the Sixteen Days of Activism under the theme Peace Begins at Home Make Educations Safe for all, governments need to ensure a safe and equitable, health risk and violence free learning environment.
Safety in schools is threatened not only by internal circumstance within the school itself, but also external factor that have a huge impact on school attendance.
Paulo says there was a time when children were not allowed to go to schools due to fear of Christian ideologies threatening societal cultural and traditional values. Other factors such as long distances between school and home threaten the girl child accessing school.
In Mphimbi Village of Balaika district Malawi, the river ‘Utale” divides the community and the local school. Girl children are seen as vulnerable to elements on the way to school. There is a cultural belief in that village that girls attending school are cursed. In 2012-2013 Utale region reported a 30% drop out of girls in upper primary school. In 2014-2015 the percentage doubled.
A safe learning environment requires commitment
