Tag Archives: Minister of Education Science and Technology Bright Msaka

Education

Education Minister Msaka hails MUBAS for launching visionary endowment fund

Burnett Munthali

……Education Minister says the initiative will boost long-term university financing and expand access to higher education in Malawi.

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Bright Msaka, has applauded the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) for establishing an Endowment Fund.

He described the initiative as a bold and visionary step towards strengthening long-term university financing.

Speaking during the launch and fundraising golf tournament in Blantyre on Saturday, he said the development marks a significant milestone in building a sustainable and inclusive learning environment for future generations.

Msaka emphasised that the Endowment Fund goes beyond being a financial tool.

He said it stands as a symbol of trust, faith, and commitment to the youth of Malawi.

The minister commended MUBAS for its leadership, innovation, and strategic foresight in conceptualising the fund.

He added that the event was a celebration of resilience and strong partnerships within the higher education sector.

Msaka also linked the initiative to Malawi’s ambition of attaining upper-middle-income status by 2063.

He highlighted ongoing government reforms aimed at strengthening higher education infrastructure, digital learning, and policy frameworks.

He urged stakeholders including alumni, the private sector, and development partners to support the Endowment Fund.

Msaka described every contribution as an investment in Malawi’s most valuable asset: its people.

In her remarks, MUBAS Vice-Chancellor Professor Nancy Chitera said the Endowment Fund is a long-term and sustainable mechanism designed to support needy students.

She noted that the fund will complement existing government loan programmes.

Chitera said the university management has committed to injecting MK200 million into the fund annually.

She further stated that the target is to grow the fund to MK5 billion within three years.

Currently, the Endowment Fund has already reached approximately MK800 million.

Development, Education, Top News

Lilongwe’s Mbvunguti Secondary school Laboratory opened

Malawi News Agency (MANA)

By Catherine Chimoyo

Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has reiterated its commitment in improving the quality of education in secondary schools.

Minister of Education Science and Technology, Bright Msaka said this Friday when he opened the newly constructed Mbvunguti Secondary school Laboratory in Lilongwe.

He emphasized on the importance of upgrading necessary facilities such as laboratories and libraries in secondary schools in order to meet the desired standards.

“The government through my Ministry is emphasizing on bringing quality education to government secondary schools by emphasizing on science subjects. A school will no longer be deemed complete if it does not have a laboratory, library, teacher houses and fully functioning administration block.” Msaka said.

He said this is a milestone showing government’s commitment in achieving goal number 4 of sustainable development goals (SDG).

Msaka pointed out on that government intends to promote 40, 000 teachers as one way of achieving this goal.

He commended Wilbert and Wellingtones industries (W2) of Zimbabwe for the donation.

“We commend the quality of the laboratory donated and installed by W2 industries at this school and establish it as the recommended standard for all future laboratories to be constructed across the country in our schools,” Msaka promised.

Managing Director for Wilbert and Wellingtones industries (W2), Wilbert Makonase highlighted on the vision of his company which is to provide quality scientific infrastructure.

“We want to take Africa to the next level in the development of scientific infrastructure including science laboratories and libraries, we want to bring international standards in terms of functionality and quality” he said.

Deputy Ambassador of Zimbabwe, Mufaro Chirambira expressed his satisfaction with the good relations between the two countries which has so far proved to be fruitful.

He said that he is looking forward to the future partnerships that two partnerships would be engaged in.

The US$ 38, 000 project is a product of the partnership between government of Malawi and Wilbert and Wellingtones industries (W2), a Zimbabwean company that specializes in the construction industry.

 

Education, Top News

Every district to have 7 new secondary schools-Education Minister Msaka

Malawi News Agency (MANA)

Malawi Government through the Ministry of Education Science and Technology says every district will have at least seven new secondary schools from the 200 that have been earmarked for construction from early next year.

 

Minister of Education Science and Technology Bright Msaka, announced the development Monday in Parliament when he presented a ministerial statement on the abolition of tuition fees and other funds in public secondary schools.

 

He said the secondary schools will be built with aid from American Government to the tune of around US$100 million.

 

“We have calculated that 200 secondary schools can reach up to that amount but this is not the exact amount.

 

“The exact amount will be [announced] by the Minister of Finance because he is the one doing all the financial arrangement on this,” Msaka said.

 

He said the construction of the schools will start early 2019 and is expected to be completed within a year.

 

“Having these 200 schools will mean that each district will at least have seven to eight secondary schools even though this will depend on how big the district is and how big the problem is in a district,” he said.

 

Msaka further said the ministry will make sure that no single contractor is given many schools to construct to ensure that project completes within the specified time.

 

Apart from constructing the new schools, Msaka said government plans to rehabilitate and upgrade existing community day secondary schools to fully fledged conventional secondary schools.

 

He said currently government is already working on rehabilitation and upgrading of 80 secondary schools across the country.

 

“After the construction and rehabilitation of the schools, students will be automatically going to secondary school without the process of selection,” he said.

 

Msaka added that the project is aimed at creating a next generation full of educated people who can take the responsibility of developing the nation.

 

Member of Parliament for Mangochi South Constituency Lillian Patel said the project is a welcome development because it comes at a time when there need for more space for secondary school goers.

 

“A lot of students pass Standard Eight examinations but they are not selected to secondary schools because of inadequate space,” Patel said.

 

“From the 200 schools, I request the minister to consider building one in my constituency because it has two community day secondary schools and students travel long distances to go to these schools,” she said.

 

Currently, there are 867 public secondary schools in the country out of which 733 are community day, 21 granted-aided and four government-aided.

Education

EU chides Malawi Govt on fees abolition; says done in hasty

MaraviPost

EU chides Malawi Govt on fees abolition; says done in hasty

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-European Union EU delegation in the country, has said the decision by government to abolish school fees in secondary schools was wrong and was done hastily.

The delegation further said; this is a recipe for low quality education* as schools will not have adequate resources.

EU head of corporate affairs Louis Navaro said the government could have done wider consultations on the matter before coming up with the decision.

“The government should review the decision. The schools are already facing huge challenges to get resources and this decision will just worsen the situation,” he said.

The EU head of corporate affairs said the government should invite all education stakeholders in order to discuss the matter intensely to avert a looming education crisis in secondary schools.

However Msaka Minister of education insists that the decision was sound.

EU is one of the greatest funders in education.

In Malawi, it has built schools, donated books, and even funded the implementation of the current curriculum.

Education, Malawi, Top News

Braille Cup vital for for children with visual impairments-Education Minister Msaka

Maravi Post Reporter
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Bright Msaka this lauded the National Reading Program’s (NRP) Braille Cup, saying its vital for promoting education among visual impaired children.
Msaka was speaking during the finals of the 2018 Braille Cup that saw 48 learners with visual impairments participating.
“My ministry’s agenda is to ensure that education leaves no child behind and that we develop teaching systems and methodologies depending upon the special needs of every child,” said Msaka.
The minister expressed happiness that the learners could read efficiently and proficiently in braille, saying this demonstrates that the students would be able to take their learning to greater heights.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting the government of Malawi in implementing the Braille Cup, an initiative which enables learners with visual impairments to showcase their reading skills and attend school.
Msaka asked USAID and other relevant stakeholders to keep on supporting the Braille Cup and assured them of his ministry’s continued cooperation.
Since 2015, with USAID support, NRP has printed and distributed about 3,000 braille and 16,000 large-print standard 1 textbooks to schools across the country.
The agency’s Acting Mission Director for Malawi Peter Trenchard disclosed that the support would continue in order to bring quality inclusive education to all children in Malawi.
“Creating opportunities for children with visual impairments to excel academically and participate in competitions such as the Braille Cup is important. It shows that Malawi is committed to teaching all of its children,” he said.
Trenchard noted that the Braille Cup is the only national braille literacy competition that is specifically designed to challenge and reward students who are blind for their study of braille.
“Being fluent in braille is essential to these students future academic and employment success,” he added.
The 2018 NRP Braille Cup finals were held at Lilongwe LEA School with learners with visual impairments demonstrating their competency in reading comprehension, fluency, spelling, accuracy of writing and proof reading.
The competing zones including Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mangochi.
The winners went away with various material prizes including trophies, school bags and among others.
According to Airtel’s Corporate Communications & CSR Manager Norah Chavula-Chirwa, the smartphone network provider is a proud partner of the Ministry of education and it’s National Reading Programme, and continues to believe in the platform that the Braille Cup offers primary school students to showcase their reading talent and sharpen their skills.

The Braille Cup is a national academic competition for students with visual impairment in Malawi and is part of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology’s National Reading Program (NRP)’s approach to improve reading instructions among all learners including those with disabilities.

Airtel Malawi has been sponsoring the competition since 2015 to the total value of MK15.5 million.

Education, Malawi

Political interference impeding public varsity students loans collection- AAHEFA President Ringera

Lloyd M’bwana

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)- President of the Association of the African Higher Education Financing Agencies (AAHEFA)Charles Ringera  this week emphasized the need for African nations particularly authorities to desist from politicking in the collection of loans from former public universities student.

Ringera who is also Chief Executive Officer of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) in Kenya observed that political interference on the management of student loans has affected the operations of loans board.

But he lauded other countries including Malawi which are making strides in the students’ loans collection.

Ringera made the remarks at Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe during this year’s AAHEFA conference that ran from September 24 to 26.

Minister of Education, Science and Technology Bright Msaka therefore pledged that no deserving student from the Universities of Malawi will be dropped for failing to pay school fees.

 

The minister said government is aware that higher education is expensive everywhere and indeed in Malawi and because of this background, government has increased funding to Loans Board from MK4 billion to MK8 billion.

 

He said it is a great honour and privilege for the people of Malawi to host this very strategic conference.

 

“I am delighted to note that this conference offers yet another opportune moment when you, our distinguished sons and daughters of Africa, who are charged with the responsibility of making sure that nobody fails to access higher education because of socio-economic challenges, are brought together in a unity of purpose,” Msaka said.

 

Msaka said through the gathering the African continent will gain a lot of dividends from its own human capital and its own strategies.

 

He pointed out that the relevance of higher education financing agencies need not be over emphasized as all countries appreciate that if they are to develop as a continent, higher education is very crucial.

 

“In fact, contemporary development theorists recognize the role of higher education in economic growth and development at all levels; be it global, continental, national, societal and even individual levels,” said Msaka.

 

Education, Malawi, Top News

Exclusive on Zomba’s Natchengwa school tragedy; negligence, poor workmanship at play….as CSEC demands resources tracking

Lloyd M’bwana

ZOMBA-(MaraviPost)-Poor workmanship and authorities negligence are some of contributing factors in the last week’s Natchengwa Primary School tragedy that claimed four pupils lives after the wall collapsed on them.

Apart from four learners death more than 30 others sustained injuries of various degrees at Sub-Traditional Authority (Sub-T/A)Ngwelero in Mayaka—53 kilometres east of Zomba City—was avoidable.

This is preliminary findings on the tragedy where the school structure was built with mud by the communities.

The community mobilized resources to add the school block aimed at accommodating over 930 pupils as nearby school is far away of 10 kilometers.

The Maravi Post visit on Sunday at the site with Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) and Parliamentary Education Committee revealed that the fallen structure was built out of desperation.

The school has six block that two of them are temporal built by communities that brought sorrow to the deceased families and nation at large.

The two blocks which one killed the pupils were not certified by authorities despite being used for year since 2017.

“The bricks that were used were not suitable with the type of soil here and the foundation for the shelter was not fit enough to support the building.

“I noted from the beginning that we were to have an accident one day and all that was done due to cheap labour. The death of the four learners at the school could have been avoided if construction of the shelter was standardized,” observes Peter Milazi one of the community members surrounding Natchengwa Primary school.

The block, which used to be Standard 3B, was constructed by the school committee to supplement the shortage of classes at the school, which has 930 pupils.

Standard 3B and Standard 3A housed 116 pupils each.

Natchengwa’s structures were fully financially supported by Save the Children without Malawi government input only servicing teachers despite School Initiative Grants (SIG) that are yearly provided to primary school across the country.

The structure’s poor workmanship happened at the school despite ushering in of local ward councilors and Member of Parliament (MP) who are mandated to overseer community developments.

Parliamentary Committee Chair on Education, Dr Elias Chakwera wondered as to what use is SIG being advocated for.

“SIG is meant to support this type of work of having quality structures. It seems there is much more into this tragedy which can always avoided,” says Dr. Chakwera.

He therefore asked government to give supervisors adequate resources such as motorcycles, and even vehicles so that they are able to do supervision work.

CSEC Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe collaborated with Chakwera blaming government for paying a blind eye to the standards of education.

“Moving forward under circumstances, that communities are mobilizing to provide these structures, you expect government to foster standards.

“If government had played its rightful role, I don’t think it could have approved this structure for students to use it for learning,” said Kondowe.

He therefore urged government to be tracking resources allocated to the education sector as one way of averting challenges in the sector.

“For the past years resources through budget allocation to the ministry of education have a provision of adding new classroom blocks, one wonders if the money is used for the intended purpose.

“The ministry of education must intensify its resources tracking coupled with vigorous supervision and certification of structures schools built to avoid the same scenarios in future,” urges Kondowe.

Minister of Education, Science and Technology Bright Msaka, who visited some of the pupils admitted to hospital, said his ministry would institute investigations to understand the situation further.

Natchengwa primary school opened in 2008 with only standard one and two but now the school has classes from standard one to seven with 12 teachers.

Education, Malawi, Top News

MANEB launches 2016- 2021 strategic plan

Maravi Post Reporter

MANEB launches 2016- 2021 strategic plan Minister of Education Science and Technology Bright Msaka Wednesday launched a five year strategic plan for Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB).

The Strategic Plan will run from 2016-2021 and will be a tool to help MANEB manage examinations, enhance utilization of resources and improve corporate governance.

Speaking during the launch in Zomba, the Minister said that it is government’s hope that the Strategic Plan would be a tool that MANEB would utilise to effectively re-position itself to win the confidence of Malawians which has been wearing off.

“With dedication, the strategic plan will among other things enable MANEB to improve the overall management of national examinations, enhance quality and security of the same,” Msaka pointed out.

Msaka added that MANEB was created as the bedrock of credibility of education that there has been pressure on Ministry to allow other independent examining institutions participate in the provision of quality assurance services in the education system.

“This is why government developed the Malawi Qualifications Bill (MAQUA), a legal framework for managing qualifications and regulating the quality of education services offered by assessment institutions,” Msaka viewed.

He urged MANEB to strategically re-position itself and improve on its service delivery in order to regain its lost glory among the stakeholders.

Minister reaffirmed government’s support towards the operations of MANEB to achieve its objectives.

MANEB’s Executive Director, Gerald Chiunda without elaborating said the institution is planning decentralize some of its functions to regional level to improve service delivery.

The launch was spiced by Malawi Police Band parade and activities by St Marys Girls Secondary School Students.