Malawi, often referred to as the “Warm Heart of Africa,” faces significant challenges in its education sector despite making strides in recent years. The country’s education system continues to grapple with issues of access, quality, and relevance, particularly in rural areas such as Nkhotakota District, where educational opportunities lag considerably according to government sources.
The State of Education in Malawi
The Malawi government introduced a Free Primary Education policy in 1994 and around 80% of children attend primary school, However, only 16% of children attend secondary school. This results from several factors: a lack of infrastructure, teaching materials, and teachers; high dropout rates – particularly among girls; and a curriculum that sometimes fails to address local economic needs.
Nkhotakota: A District Left Behind
Nkhotakota District, located on the shores of Lake Malawi in the central region, exemplifies many of the educational challenges facing rural Malawi. The district’s educational metrics consistently fall below national averages, with secondary school attendance rates among the lowest in the country.
Nkhotakota has many isolated communities, making school access difficult, and a culture that tends to prioritise, understandably, immediate income over education for boys, and early marriage over education for girls. When allied to a lack of specialised technical education in vital sectors such as agriculture and animal husbandry, a self-perpetuating cycle of skills gaps and poverty is created.
An ambitious initiative to establish a model secondary school in Nkhotakota is a response to this. The new St Joseph Integrated Secondary School, aims to transcend traditional educational approaches by integrating academic excellence with practical technical training built on strong, value-based foundations.
The school’s comprehensive approach aims for academic excellence with smaller class sizes, qualified teachers, and adequate learning resources, and focuses on technical educationdirectly relevant to Nkhotakota’s, and by and large, Malawi’s economic needs. The school will feature specialised programs in animal husbandry, sustainable agriculture – focusing on climate-resilient farming practices, and fisheries management – essential for a lakeside community. Basic entrepreneurship and business skills will also feature, alongside vocational trades such as carpentry, masonry, and tailoring. These practical programs will be delivered through a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on experience, allowing students to develop marketable skills while still in school.
Recognising that education extends beyond academic and vocational skills, the school will emphasize character development, ethical leadership, and community responsibility. This holistic approach aims to produce graduates who are not only technically competent but also committed to positive social change.
A Model for Educational Transformation
The aim is for this new school to become a model of educational excellence in the region. By demonstrating that rural education can be both high-quality and relevant, the initiative hopes to inspire similar approaches across Nkhotakota and beyond.
The project’s potential impact extends well beyond individual students:
- Creating a pool of skilled individuals who can innovate within traditional economic sectors
- Demonstrating sustainable approaches to agriculture and animal husbandry that can be adopted by the wider community
- Providing pathways to economic advancement that don’t require urban migration
- Fostering community development through educated, values-oriented leadership
New Ways is pleased to be supporting this project as well as continuing to support the existing schools in Malawi, and looks forward to seeing the impact in Nkhotakota and beyond.
NOT FORGETTING WATER
The work in education is important and rewarding but that does not mean the need for access to water goes away. By comparison with Turkana, Malawi has much more water, but it is not always safely accessible, and we continue to support the drilling of boreholes in the villages where we work. To see the great impact of this work just watch the video:
