Sowing for Tomorrows Harvest: Providing Equitable Access to Quality Education for All Malawians

Purpose

Your Excellency, our nation is on the precipice of a momentous change that will affect the future of our country, as we engage in a national debate on how our educational system can best cater to the needs of all Malawians, for a long time to come. The aim of our communication is to petition your office to adopt a consultative approach and appoint a committee that we believe should be mandated with the task of exploring constructive ways of handling the contentious and important problem of equitable access to quality education in Malawi. We envision the said committee to comprise stakeholders representative of Malawian society, including, among others, relevant branches of government, civil society organizations, educational policy experts, classroom teachers, parents and school going students.

Premise

The first five years of your presidency marked a period of significant agricultural, economic and infrastructural development. There was a palpable uplift in the national mood, with many Malawians convinced that our country was on her way to transforming herself into a country in which everyones contribution mattered. Together, Malawians believe that we can make a collective difference, and that
Malawi is poised to launch herself on a path to greater success. Central to this uplift is the entrenched belief that hard work, educational achievement and relevant qualifications matter. Malawians are supportive of highly qualified people running the affairs of the nation, in a leadership philosophy that encourages diligence, rewards earnestness, and motivates a new ethic of commitment to the national cause.

You have, Your Excellency, received global recognition on the pages of the worlds leading media as well through numerous international awards bestowed upon you. This year you are ascending to the presidency of the august continental body, the African Union. It will be the first time in the history of our nation that a Malawian leader will steward the affairs of the continent of Africa. Malawians look forward to this crowning moment as an opportunity to demonstrate how committed and visionary leadership can propel the rest of the continent to greater heights. It will be an occasion for many of our compatriots to once again identify themselves as proud citizens of the Malawi nation, at home and abroad.

Momentum

As you have embarked on your second term of office, you have laid out new priorities for development. You have declared a renewed emphasis on improving the countrys education system. There is enough momentum and goodwill amongst Malawians to make this happen.

We write in the spirit of this Malawian renewal. We see an urgent need for government to continue in the same spirit. The country is currently undergoing an important debate on how best to deal with the long-standing problem of equitable access to secondary and university education.

In this significant debate, we are not taking sides. Rather, we are suggesting that there be appointed, through a consultative process, a group of stakeholders, comprising representatives from the wider Malawian society, including but not restricted to, relevant branches of government, civil society, the educational research and policy community, practicing teachers, parents, and not leaving out students. We urge that this group, made up of proponents and opponents of the new equitable access system, and others interested in the issue, be mandated with the task of exploring constructive ways of moving the country in a positive, mutually agrreable direction in this matter.

The road ahead

The country is looking for lucid and candid explanations and clarifications of what is going on, and what the genuine, proven facts are. The group we are suggesting to be convened will need to provide the answers being sought by Malawians. The group will need to look at the long-term provision of higher and secondary school education in the country, with the aim of increasing access in real terms for all
districts and regions of the country so that no one feels excluded. The overall direction of what the country needs, as is known by many Malawians, is an expansion and widening of access and the enhancement of quality at all levels, especially in secondary and higher education. One historical example to learn from would be the district secondary schools project whose intention in the 1960s was to ensure that every district had adequate access to secondary provision.

We are cognisant of the fact that our role as patriotic and bona fide citizens of this country is limited to proposing general solutions, but we are confident that an inspired and motivated grouping put together by the government, civil society, the educational policy, research and practice community, as well as parents and students will be very well placed to providing long-term solutions to the problems of equitable access to secondary and higher education in our beloved country. It is through a meaningful, deliberate, consultative, transparent and accountable process of developing solutions to problems of equitable access and quality in our educational system that Malawi will register real progress towards meeting the eight Millennium Development Goals.

We thus call upon fellow Malawians to exercise calm and goodwill, open-mindedness and uMunthu so that we can all take collective responsibility toward the transformation of our education system as an engine for greater development in the long term.

Written by:

Steve Sharra, Ph.D.
Mpalive-Hangson Msiska, Ph.D.

With the collaboration of:

Boniface Dulani, M.A.
Trevor Chimimba
Olivia Mchaju-Liwewe, M.A.
Chatonda Mtika, Ph.D.
Fletcher Ziwoya, M.A.
Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu, Ph.D.
John Lwanda FRCP, Ph.D.
Tom Likambale
Jonathan Makuwira, Ph.D.
Agnes Makonda-Ridley