5 THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF LFPSS IN MALAWI
5.1 The situation for primary education
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2012, the population was estimated at 15.9 million, with a poverty headcount of 50.7 per cent.260 The primary goal of Malawi’s edu-cational development is accordingly to catalyse socioeconomic development, industrial growth,
257 DfID, 2018, Box 8.
258 Utenriksdepartementet, 2014b, para. 1.
259 Appendix 1, no. 1.
260 Government of Malawi, 2014, para. 1.3.
42 and empower “the poor, the weak and the voiceless”.261 The government recognizes that if the education system is not able to provide the young generation with education, the country’s eco-nomic future is threatened.262 On paper, the country has an ambitious education policy: The right to education is guaranteed in Malawi’s constitution, and the country is also party to both ICESCR and CRC.263 In 1994, free primary education was introduced. Whilst this has tremen-dously improved both education access and attainment,264 the education sector still faces great challenges, especially related to high drop-out rates and the low level of education quality.265 The rate of education exclusion is at approximately 14 per cent, and only 35 per cent of girls and 41 per cent of boysfinish the 8th grade.266 The low education quality can be illustrated by a study conducted by the World Bank, which found that 95 per cent of pupils in the seventh grade had either “no achievement” or “partial achievement” when assessed in mathematics.267 The Malawian government roots these challenges in difficulties with matching the continuously increasing enrolments with adequate funding and management.268 This in turn, has led to a shortage of qualified teachers, poor strategic management of teachers, inadequate and inferior physical infrastructure, inadequate teaching and learning materials, poor monitoring and super-visory systems, poor access for children with special needs, poor retention of girls, negative impact of HIV/AIDS, and poor participation of school committees and their communities in school management.269 USAID has reported that high levels of teacher absenteeism – students in early grades reportedly received only 2-3 hours of teaching per day – high teacher-pupil ratios, and ineffective teaching are important reasons why there is a high level of student repe-tition- and drop-out rates.270 The shortage of textbooks is also contributing towards poor learn-ing outcomes,271 and school distance has been identified as a hindrance to school attendance, particularly during the rainy and cold seasons.272
261 Government of Malawi, 2008, para. 2.1.
262 Government of Malawi, 2014, 13.
263 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, n.d.
264 Omoeva & Moussa, 2018.
265 Norad, 2017c, 21.
266 Utenriksdepartementet, 2014c.
267 World Bank, 2015, para. 53.
268 Government of Malawi, 2008, para. 4.1.3.
269 Government of Malawi, 2008, para. 4.1.3.
270 Referenced in World Bank, 2015, Box 4.
271 World Bank, 2015, paras. 64-65.
272 Referenced in World Bank, 2015, Box 4.
43 There are also challenges at household and community levels contributing towards the high drop-out- and repetition rates. At household level, USAID attribute subsistence livelihoods as an important impediment to universal primary education, as children are expected to contribute to household chores and wage earning, and many are absent from school on market days.273 USAID also found the low educational attainment of parents to be important.274 At community level, high drop-out- and repetition rates are affected by cultural practices such as initiation ceremonies that disrupt the school terms, community video centres that contribute to absentee-ism as children leave school to watch films, and concerns about the safety of especially girls during their commute to school, in particular if the school distance is long.275
Equality of access to education for girls is a significant problem in Malawi, with particularly high dropout rates in grades seven and eight.276 According to interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, many girls drop out of school due to marriage – as husbands or in-laws do not allow continued schooling – or pregnancy – because they lack money and child care, and be-cause adult classes, evening programs or other flexible solutions are unavailable.277 The situa-tion for other marginalized groups is also substandard. Many intersex children remain out of school, as they are barred or deterred from school access.278 Children with disabilities are fre-quently out-of-school, mainly because of inaccessible school infrastructure and the “one size fits all” curriculum.279 The Human Rights Committee has expressed concern that Rastafarian children sometimes are denied access to schools.280 According to Save the Children, school-related costs, such as user-fees, purchasing note books and school uniforms also inhibit poor children’s access to schools.281 Of the approximately 14 per cent of children who are not in school, a majority live in rural areas, suggesting that there is an inequality in access to education between urban and rural Malawi.282
273 Referenced in World Bank, 2015, Box 4.
274 Referenced in World Bank, 2015, Box 4.
275 Referenced in World Bank, 2015, Box 4.
276 Government of Malawi, 2014, para. 2.1.3.1.
277 Human Rights Watch, 2016, 3.
278 CHRR & CEDEP, 2016, 9.
279 Republic of Malawi, 2016, para. 147.
280 UN Human Rights Council, 2015b, para. 64.
281 Save the Children, 2016, para. 1.1.
282 Save the Children, 2016, para. 3.1.
44 Because of the country’s high birth-rates, the proportion of new enrolments to primary school are expected to keep increasing, placing further strain on the education system. Achieving cost-effective, sustainable, quality primary education is therefore both an important and formidable task for the international aid community, including Norway.