NBM advocates early technical skills for children

The National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has advocated for the early introduction of technical skills to young children to build a broad base of skilled professionals to drive national development.

The bank’s Head of Digital Financial Services William Kaunda made the recommendation at Ekwendeni in Mzimba during the official handover of Kapandajuba Community Based Care Centre (CBCC) school block.

This is the fourth CBCC school block that the bank has supported financially through various organizations including Yamba Malawi and Tiyeni Organization, having already handed over one in Mangochi and two in Lilongwe.

The total cost of the construction project on these blocks is around MK178 million excluding the additional MK30 million incurred for desks, books, and other materials that children need to use in these centres.

Speaking during the ceremony, Kaunda said children should not be kept waiting until they finish their secondary education to start gaining technical skills.

“You see, they cannot only be learning things that they memorize but they also need to gain technical skills. So, as young as they are, we need to start giving them things they can screw and unscrew. In doing so, they can take a screwdriver and fix things they find loose at home,” Kaunda said.

He added; “They should not wait until they finish form four to go into technical schools and start getting these skills. As a country, let us start at the beginning and this is the beginning from which we need to start.”

Kaunda said imparting technical skills to young children will enable the country to have a good technical base and technical-minded people who will drive the country’s development.

“We need to start grooming these young ones to be responsible citizens when they grow. So, to the fellow corporate institutions out there let us partner with the government, we can grow the workforce together, and therefore, in the next few years we should have a good work base where Malawi can develop while we look at industrialization as one of the things we need to do in our Malawi 2063 strategy,” he said.

Goodwell Kalimanjira, a social worker at Mzimba North District Social Welfare Office agreed with Kaunda but said the recommendation requires further consultations to be incorporated into the curriculum.

“It is a good idea but it requires different stakeholders to sit down because even the curriculum that we have at the moment was a consensus of different stakeholders. So, if stakeholders feel like technical skills should start at the ECD centre, then the same stakeholders should come together and lobby the government so that they can develop the curriculum,” Kalimanjira said.

Commenting on the construction of CBCC school blocks, Kaunda said they decided to support once approached to bring up the young ones so they can grow into productive citizens and in the process build a workforce for the Malawi Community including the National Bank.

Kaunda then reiterated the bank’s commitment, saying, “What will happen is that as soon as we finish this exercise, we will sit down with our partners, we will evaluate, we will look at other needs. As you heard there are so many other areas that require at least basic infrastructure, so, as we go, we will work with our partners, whether to support further these very centres or other new ones.”

Yamba Malawi Chief Programs Officer Carol Kulemeka explained that their partnership with NBM was entered following a community request to assist the children who were learning in shacks. She pledged to continue looking for more partnerships to address the existing infrastructure challenges in the sector.

“There are so many children learning under shacks and it is a big problem when it is the rainy season because then the children stop going to school. Since this problem is big, we urge NBM and other partners to come and partner with organizations such as ours to build more CBCCs in the country,” Kulemeka said.

On his part, Kalimanjira, the social worker commended NBM and its partners for the gesture, which he said has contributed to the provision of decent and safe learning space for the children.

“Most of the structures are pathetic and this is a commendable thing. We are very grateful and we believe this is the beginning of many good things to come, we know they will come back and construct more based on the needs. To the community, our word of encouragement to the community is to take care of the structure,” Kalimanjira said.

Sub-Traditional Authority (STA) Yohane Jere also showered praises to NBM and its partners and promised to be in the forefront ensuring that his subjects take good care of the newly constructed structure.

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