Life in Peter's classroom
In this update, you’ll meet Peter, one of the dedicated primary school teachers I work closely with. Peter will tell you about his experience teaching a class of 200 children and the difference the learning centre and educational tablets are making to his students. You’ll also hear about 10-year-old Thoko, who’s seen incredible improvements in his learning, attendance and enjoyment of school since the project began.
October's featured volunteer
Moni onse - hello everyone! I’m Theonas Kalumika, VSO Education Specialist in Malawi, and I’ll be taking you forward on your Sponsor a Volunteer journey. Read on to find out how, with your support, we’re giving children here the education they deserve.
In Malawi, poor learning conditions and a lack of resources have created barriers to children’s education.
Over two thirds of students don’t finish primary school and those that do often lack the skills needed to thrive as older children and adults. Many primary schools have classes full of hundreds of students but only one teacher, meaning many children get left behind in their education, and eventually drop out altogether.
By supporting children with educational tablets, they're taking huge leaps in their learning. I was very excited when I heard about the work VSO is doing in schools in Malawi, and ever since I started volunteering I've been able to share my knowledge with everyone here. I can't wait to update you on how our work here in Malawi is going, and how your support is helping change children's lives.
October '24 volunteer update
An update from me
As we head into October, the weather is getting much hotter here in Malawi. At the moment it’s about 32 degrees which is quite uncomfortable to work in. There’s certainly no air-conditioning here! Traditional classrooms get particularly hot during the height of our summer. The roofs are made from corrugated iron and are covered in holes, so in very hot weather they act like an oven! Can you imagine how unbearable it gets, especially with so many students crammed together in one room? Because the learning centres are newer and more spacious, they are cooler and more comfortable places to learn. The students in the schools I’m working with are even more excited than normal when it’s their turn to use them.
Halifax Trading Malawi
Click here to watch a school tour video. You’ll see the stark difference between the noisy, overcrowded classroom and the peaceful learning centre.
Despite the challenging weather, I’m pleased to report that the project is going really well. Seeing how much progress the students are making continues to motivate me despite the uncomfortable heat! September was especially busy as I was supporting in lots of teaching training sessions to prepare for the new school term. Right now, the work we’re doing is helping thousands of children access a quality education, improving their ability to read, write and count, and motivating them to stay in school. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for helping us to create this change. We simply could not do it without your incredible support.
Halifax Trading Malawi
The teacher crisis in Malawi
There is a critical shortage of teachers in primary schools in Malawi, particularly those with specialist skills to support children with learning difficulties. Teachers here don’t earn good salaries, and they have to work in poor conditions so it’s hard to attract people to the profession. There simply aren’t enough trained teachers who have completed all their necessary qualifications to meet demand.
Halifax Trading Malawi
But those who do become teachers here are incredibly hard working, resilient and inspiring. In fact, working side-by-side with primary school teachers is one of the best parts of my role as a VSO Education Specialist. It’s great to be able to share ideas, knowledge and experiences and I really enjoy being able to offer my advice and guidance when needed.
One of the amazing teachers I work closely with is Peter, who would like to share his experiences with you all. Peter is an extremely talented and engaging teacher but with a class as large as 200, it’s impossible for even the best of teachers to engage every student. There should be two classes for students aged 7-9, but with the teacher shortage, the school only has Peter available to teach them all. Peter is an inspiration to me and so many here.
Halifax Trading Malawi
Meet Peter
A bit about me
Moni onse! I’m Peter Kwanda and I’m a class 2 teacher at a primary school in Lilongwe, Malawi. VSO built the learning centre here and I’ve been working alongside Theo and another VSO volunteer, Prisca, for around three years now. They’ve been a big support to me in that time and I really like working with them. If there’s a problem in the learning centre or a technical issue we can’t fix, the other teachers and I can go to them for help.
I grew up in a single parent family as my father died when I was young. That made going to school challenging for me but I really enjoyed it when I was there. Thanks to the efforts of my mother, I managed to finish school and eventually get into teaching. I always knew I would like to become a teacher. I wanted to educate the nation so I could equip children with the skills they need to do well in life.
My time as a teacher
There are a lot of factors that inspired me to teach and continue to motivate me today. I love working with learners and seeing them enjoying school and progressing with their learning. Mostly, I want to be a positive role model so that the children I teach could be the teachers of tomorrow.
But it’s not easy for children now. When I was at school, our classrooms were far less crowded than they are today. Having such large numbers of learners in one class makes my job very challenging. Before the VSO project began, some of my students were struggling to read, write or count properly and I couldn’t give them the attention they needed. We also don’t have enough textbooks or writing materials for every student. Sometimes six to eight children might have to fight for one book. It’s very frustrating and means they can’t access the materials they need to learn.
Some children stopped coming to school because of these issues. I worried for them as I knew they’d face many challenges without an education. They might have no choice but to work in unfairly paid jobs or sell things on the street, which can make life very hard for them. Girls who drop out might even be forced into early marriages. Without a quality education, children risk falling into poverty like their parents did. I want more for them which is why I’m so happy that the school I work in is part of this VSO education project.
Since VSO built the learning centres and bought in the tablets, it has been so much easier to teach my big class. Students use the learning centre in smaller groups of 30, where they can work on their tablets at their own pace. This is much more manageable, allowing me time to give students the attention and one-to-one support they might need. It also makes the lack of teaching materials much less of a problem as there’s no need for pens and notepads when everything is done on the tablets. Children who had stopped coming to school regularly, or who had even dropped out entirely, are coming back and are motivated to learn on the tablets. It’s amazing to see attendance improving and students looking so happy to be learning again.
Halifax Trading Malawi
In the learning centre, students get to do all sorts of engaging activities on their tablets, such as puzzles, counting games and matching pictures with words. It’s great to see how excited they are to go to the learning centre. The tablets have been life-changing for the children here. Their ability to read, write and count have improved significantly. They are now fluently reading and some of them will move up to class 3 because of how well they’ve progressed.
I’d like to tell you about one of my students, Thoko, was unable to read and struggled to write words correctly when he started in class 2. But since attending the learning centre regularly, he can write so much better and is now able to read.
Halifax Trading Malawi
Thoko's story
Thoko lives with his grandfather, mother, father, brothers and sisters. He lives in a small house with no running water or electricity. He walks three to four kilometres to school every day. Thoko is in my class 2, which is noisy and crowded and he says it’s hard for him to learn there: “There are no desks in my class. And we have to sit on the floor. I do have a pen, but I don’t have enough notebooks. When it’s cold, the floor is too cold to sit on, and when it’s hot, the room is too hot to concentrate.” Before attending the learning centre, Thoko struggled to read, write and count. I unfortunately wasn’t able to give him the one-to-one support he needed due to having a class of 200 students. Sometimes the challenges Thoko faced at school meant he would rather stay at home.
Halifax Trading Malawi
But Thoko is now attending the learning centre and using the tablets every day. His mother, Miriam, has seen a big difference: “Before the tablets, Thoko wasn’t able to read or write his name and I sometimes had to force him to go to school. But now he can write, read and count properly and insists on going because he is finding school interesting.”
The tablets have built a crucial foundation for Thoko to continue his education and are giving him the best chance of escaping the cycle of poverty. Thoko’s father, Lashid, says, “I’m so excited that Thoko is going to school and has improved in so many things since the tablets arrived. He’s going to be self-dependant and have a better life than the one that I’m living now.”
Beyond school, Thoko dreams of getting a good job when he’s older:
I come to school so I can learn how to read and when I’m done with school, I’d like to be a farm manager.
With your support, we can make this dream a reality for Thoko - and for thousands more children like him.
Thank you
Once again, I’d like to thank each and every one of you for believing in our work and supporting our efforts here in Malawi. Thanks to you, my VSO teammates and I are building the foundations to ensure children across the country can access a quality education, stay in school and move on into brighter futures. We simply could not do any of this without you, and we can’t thank you enough for your continued support.
Don’t forget, you can ask me a question or send a message of support any time by leaving a message below.
Speak soon,
Theo
VSO Education Specialist, Malawi
*Pseudonym used to protect identity of children
Want to ask a question?
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Your latest questions answered
Hi, I just received my first update from you. I think you're doing an amazing job helping children.
Theonas
Hello Hannah,
Thank you so much, Hannah, for reading the update. Indeed it is an amazing job being done here, but it is more amazing because of your support and we appreciate the support you always give to make VSO do it's project all over the world including our country Malawi, please continue. In my country many, many children are encouraged to complete their primary circle because of such education interventions, like the current one that is making children acquire skills of reading and computing during their early grades.
Hannah, you might have some questions about what we are doing in the project. Please, feel free to ask and I will respond accordingly.
Thank you so much, Hannah, and have a lovely time.
Theonas
Thank you so much, Hannah, for reading the update. Indeed it is an amazing job being done here, but it is more amazing because of your support and we appreciate the support you always give to make VSO do it's project all over the world including our country Malawi, please continue. In my country many, many children are encouraged to complete their primary circle because of such education interventions, like the current one that is making children acquire skills of reading and computing during their early grades.
Hannah, you might have some questions about what we are doing in the project. Please, feel free to ask and I will respond accordingly.
Thank you so much, Hannah, and have a lovely time.
Theonas
Hello again Theo, What a great project; I think I might have read about it a while ago in the VSO magazine, now to hear about it now it is helping so many children, and with plans to expand, is really exciting.
Theonas
Hello Alison,
Hope you are fine. Let me first apologize to you for my late coming back to you and share experiences. Indeed it is a great program, Alison, as I might have mentioned in my last email that the program targets all primary schools in our country, totalling to over 6,000 and will run up to 2029, if all goes well. So you should know that there is great appreciation and excitement over here because of your support.
Just to share with you, Alison, attendance of most learners has improved and some learners come to the point of reminding a teacher to have tablets session if they see time elapsing in a day.
Let me thank you so much, Alison for your encouraging words and you should know that your words are a source of strength to us.
Thank you so much and enjoy your time.
Theonas
Hope you are fine. Let me first apologize to you for my late coming back to you and share experiences. Indeed it is a great program, Alison, as I might have mentioned in my last email that the program targets all primary schools in our country, totalling to over 6,000 and will run up to 2029, if all goes well. So you should know that there is great appreciation and excitement over here because of your support.
Just to share with you, Alison, attendance of most learners has improved and some learners come to the point of reminding a teacher to have tablets session if they see time elapsing in a day.
Let me thank you so much, Alison for your encouraging words and you should know that your words are a source of strength to us.
Thank you so much and enjoy your time.
Theonas
Good evening, Theonas, Thank you for telling me about the problems you will be working on in your VSO position. I am enormously sympathetic to you and glad that successfully doing your job can bring great satisfaction to everybody involved.
Theonas
Dear Alison
Thanks for your touching and inspirational word, Alison. It is very nice and encouraging to hear that.
Briefly, Alison, I do monitor and support teachers and learners as they use tablets in all project schools. What happens is that the schools are identified, different experts provide different services to make a school ready to receive tablets. Such services include providing solar charging system for charging tablets and cages for safe keeping of tablets. The community does provide a security guard ( watchman) during the night. It all starts with community sensitisation about the coming of tablets in the community as a project or program of children to learn through the tablet. Then, teachers are trained on how to conduct and support a tablet session. Alison, take note that at the moment children learn mathematics and a vernacular language, "Chichewa" through the tablets.So what I do is go round to these schools and monitor and support the teachers and children during tablet sessions. We also provide information and reports about the way things are happening on the ground in relation to the project. We also support management in carrying out the project activities in the field such as meetings, trainings and open days, including supporting visitors who come and visit us.
Thanks a lot, Alison.
Regards
Theo
Thanks for your touching and inspirational word, Alison. It is very nice and encouraging to hear that.
Briefly, Alison, I do monitor and support teachers and learners as they use tablets in all project schools. What happens is that the schools are identified, different experts provide different services to make a school ready to receive tablets. Such services include providing solar charging system for charging tablets and cages for safe keeping of tablets. The community does provide a security guard ( watchman) during the night. It all starts with community sensitisation about the coming of tablets in the community as a project or program of children to learn through the tablet. Then, teachers are trained on how to conduct and support a tablet session. Alison, take note that at the moment children learn mathematics and a vernacular language, "Chichewa" through the tablets.So what I do is go round to these schools and monitor and support the teachers and children during tablet sessions. We also provide information and reports about the way things are happening on the ground in relation to the project. We also support management in carrying out the project activities in the field such as meetings, trainings and open days, including supporting visitors who come and visit us.
Thanks a lot, Alison.
Regards
Theo
Did you know?
We bring about lasting change not by sending aid, but by working through volunteers to empower communities in some of the world’s poorest regions. You can read more about VSO’s areas of work and discover more about our projects here.
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