Malawi

 
Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education (CSCQBE)

Background
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and has one of the highest levels of illiteracy, especially among women. Over 41 per cent (54.7 per cent of females and 22.6 per cent of males) of the adult population is illiterate. The Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS, 2004) shows that only 25 per cent of pupils complete basic education. Quality and standards of education have reportedly declined because of high pupil to teacher ratios, (1:118 in rural areas and 1:71 in urban areas), high class size to pupil ratios (1:120), inadequately qualified teachers in the rural areas (especially female teachers), poor teacher motivation and a high attrition rate amongst teachers.

The Government of Malawi’s main policy objective for the education sector is to “develop an efficient, high quality system of education, of type and size appropriate both to the available resources and to the political, social and economic aspirations of the nation” (Malawi Government Basic Statistics, 1997:1). The achievement of the policy objective is hindered by limited and unequal access to education, declining educational quality, poor planning and management capacity, and inadequate funding to the sector (Policy Investment Framework 200 to 2015, 2002:3).

Education in Malawi has experienced major changes since the advent of multiparty democracy and the introduction of free primary education in 1994. With free primary education, school enrolment almost doubled from 1.8 million to 3.2 million between 1994 and 1997. This had knock out effects. Increased enrolment resulted in expansion of the secondary sector and then the tertiary. A new university was established. The consequences have been an overall lack of resources and shortages of teachers. In urban schools the pupil to teacher ratio average is 1:120, while in the rural areas the average is 1:150. The result is that the government employs 25,000 unqualified teachers - more than half of the total teacher work force. The ratios, particularly in urban areas, are still inadequate.

The problem is compounded by a lack of teacher trainers. There are also inadequate supplies of teaching and learning materials, with a textbook to pupil ratio of 1:4. Due to shortage of classrooms, around 38,000 pupils are taught under trees and during the rainy season their education is disrupted. Lack of funding also means inadequate school supervision due to personnel and logistical constraints, such as lack of transport. Achieving better quality education therefore remains difficult.

The Malawi government has attempted to address the above constraints with a number of policies and strategies. One such strategy involves communities in the management of primary schools. This is part of the process of decentralisation aimed at efficient service delivery, improved policy making through increased public participation and more accountability to local government.

Funding for primary schools is channelled through the district assemblies, with District Commissioners as the controlling officers. With decentralisation, local communities should have more say in developmental projects in their districts. This would result in prudent use of resources, since each district should spend according to its needs in a bid to reduce poverty and improve service delivery.

In the absence of clear standards and benchmarks for accountability, decentralisation risks increasing local corruption and the misallocation of resources to favour the more powerful few rather than the majority poor. From 1994 to 2001, increased funding to the education sector failed to translate into meaningful changes. There were also a number of financial scandals in the Ministry of Education.

There is therefore a pressing need for CSOs to intensify public expenditure tracking in order to achieve greater transparency in local governance. This would then improve the quality of public participation, service delivery and accountability of local government structures. CSCQBE was formed to organise CSOs involved in the education sector, and achieve greater results through effective policy advocacy and collaboration.

Progressio Development Worker

Viola Muhangi is a Progressio Development Worker based in Lilongwe Malawi since April 2009. She is a Capacity Building and Advocacy Specialist, facilitating the process of strengthening the Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education (CSCQBE) and its partners (for example the District Education Networks and member organisations).

The overall aim of this project is to build the capacity of the civil society organizations to ensure effective, evidence-based advocacy strategies towards the allocation, expenditure and accountability of education funds. The project will be implemented through the district education networks that are spread across the country.

Impact to date

As part of the ‘Education Global Week of Action’, the network developed a policy advocacy tool, the ‘Education Agenda’. The ‘Agenda’ highlights issues relating to female child enrolment in school, education resource allocation and expenditure at district level. It will be used to lobby the legislature and government to commit to effective and timely implementation of education strategies and support towards enrolment of girls in schools. The agenda will strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations in the education sector to speak with one voice. It is expected to be implemented by all the district educational networks in the next two years. 

This project is supported by Irish Aid