NENO (MaraviPost)—The youthful District Health Officer (DHO), Dr. Lawrence Nazimera, of Neno district hospital, gave an inspirational advice to students of Chikonde Community Day Secondary School ahead of the stressful Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) exams expected to run from 22^nd June to 20^th July 2016.

Nazimera, who was invited as guest of honor to the school’s form four students farewell party which took place at district’s community hall on Friday, tipped the students to handle the upcoming exams without kid gloves so as to come out successful.

“I hope you have been preparing for the upcoming exams and you are ready to battle it out. As we are here cerebrating your four-year sojourn at secondary level, let me urge you not to relax; continue working hard in your studies up to the end of the exams,” said the soft-spoken medical doctor.

Nazimera, who pursued MBBS at College of Medicine, a constituent of the University of Malawi, also asked the students to dream big so as to bring change in their families, communities and the country at large.

“The knowledge you have acquired is very important in different aspects. I know our education is designed in such a way that everyone crave for professional work. Some of you want to be lawyers, medical doctors and teachers. But I would challenge you to think outside the box by also thinking of creating big businesses in future.

” The levels you will get from the forthcoming test will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything. There are many ways of being smart. So while you are preparing for the test and in the midst of it all, remember that there is no way to ‘test’ all of the amazing and awesome things that make you. The onus, therefore, is on you to exploit your full potential,” he said.

The DHO then gave five students namely Madalitso Chibwana, Miracle Idi, Emmanuel Banda, Promise Liyaya and Francisco Tarsizio K5000.00 each for being star performers in different areas.

In his remarks, the Head teacher of the school, Waxter  Zingwangwa thanked the students for defying all odds to reach that as some of their friends dropped due to pregnancies and other petty reasons.

“I thank you all for being patient to reach this far. It was not easy but you persevered while your friends failed to withstand the heat and succumbed to immoral social life which saw them getting pregnancies.

“I should also thank your parents who are with us today for being supportive during your four-year period at secondary level,” he said.

Zingwangwa also took time to lament the shortage of classrooms and other learning materials at the institution but was quick to say European Union (EU) through the Peter Mutharika administration has come to their rescue.

“Our school is still facing challenges in terms of classrooms, teachers’ houses and learning materials. However, we are happy today to tell you that European Union (EU) is expected to construct laboratory, library, hall, two learning blocks, administration block, girls’ hostel, two teachers’ houses and a maize mill,” he said amid ululation from the students and parents.

Chikonde CDSS was established in 1998 and the notable product of the institution is Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) presenter Mike Mlongoti who did his degree in journalism at Malawi Polytechnic, a constituent of the University of Malawi.

 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination is slated for 22^nd June to 20^th July 2016. 153, 656 registered candidates are supposed to sit for the examination.