Government told to urgently address space shortage in secondary schools

The Private Schools Owners Association of Malawi (PRISAM) is imploring the authorities to hasten the construction of more secondary schools as a means to improving local education.
Lack of classroom space as well as limited resources have for a long time caused the government to struggle with growing numbers of learners who continue to miss out on selection into public secondary schools.
For instance; of the 216,000 candidates who have passed this year’s primary school leaving exams, only 89,000 have been selected while the remaining 127,000 have to get their post-primary schooling elsewhere.
In a bid to save the situation, the government is currently exploring various avenues including construction of more classrooms and enhancing distance learning, so that more learners can access secondary school education.
PRISAM Vice president, Patricia Chisi, indicates that failure to accommodate many learners in secondary schools is a setback that needs immediate attention.
“If you look at the pass rate even from individual districts, students have done well. Most of them have performed well that they are supposed to be accommodated in secondary school.
But the challenge is that most of the students despite the fact that they have done very well they have not been selected because of space. Its really disheartening.” Chisi explained.

Commenting on the matter Civil Society Education Coalition-CSEC Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe has described the number of those left out on the selection as worrying.

Kondowe has echoed Chisi’s call for the government to expedite the construction of additional classes as well as new secondary schools.

Currently the authorities with funding from the US Government is constructing 200 secondary schools across the country under the Secondary Education Expansion for Development(SEED) program, towards improving secondary education.