Girls' education in Malawi
In this update, you’ll hear from VSO staff member and project manager, Wezzie, who is responsible for making sure VSO continues to improve children’s education in Malawi. Wezzie will give you a bit of an insight into her role, project plans for the new year, and why advocating for girls’ education is so important.
January'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.
January '25 volunteer update
Halifax Trading Malawi
Chaka chabwino chatsopano – happy new year!
My name is Wezzie Chimwala. I was so excited when Theo asked if I’d like to write to the people who are helping to transform education for children in my home country. I’ve been with VSO since 2019 and I’m responsible for monitoring and reporting on the project here. This means I track the performance and results to ensure we’re on track to achieving the goals we’ve set. I’ve seen first-hand how your donations are unlocking potential in children here.
Malawi has always been my home – I grew up in Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi). My family are a middle-income household, so my parents could send me to school and afford basics like a uniform. I didn’t have a good pair of shoes or a school bag – I had plastic shoes but I loved them, and I carried my school books in a plastic bag, but it didn’t bother me. I was grateful to go to school; I had a lot of friends and more importantly, I had food.
Halifax Trading Malawi
Like a lot of schools in rural areas, my classroom was very basic. It didn’t really have doors and we didn’t have desks either. Unlike the class of 200 children in teacher Peter’s class, my class was a lot smaller. My school didn’t have many books so my dad would take me to the library to read. I think my love of reading is one of the reasons why I am where I am today.
My role means I travel around the country a lot and see many of the schools VSO works in so I know how much of an impact your donations make. Theo keeps me up to date on how the children are getting on and the stories he tells me are astounding. I’m so happy to hear about how children’s lives are changing, thanks to these educational tablets.
The plan for 2025
We’ll be continuing to provide ongoing support in all the primary schools VSO works with to reach more children. We are also striving to support more learners with disabilities. So far, VSO has set up resource centres with the aim to support 6,000 learners with disabilities and have purchased specialised equipment, such as wheelchairs, projectors and hearing aids. We are training teachers on how to use the equipment so that they know how to use them in the learning centres.
As well as this, we have been working with the local government to strengthen inclusive learning in primary schools. The hope is that this helps to keep more children in school – especially girls.
The importance of girls’ education
Children face many challenges accessing education in Malawi. The overarching problem is poverty – families struggle to pay the fees associated with school and many children end up dropping out. This has a wider impact on young girls as it likely means they’ll fall into early marriage and may become pregnant. Families will often marry off their daughters to ease the financial burden on themselves.
Although the legal age to marry in Malawi is 18, the country has one of the highest child marriage rates globally, with 38% of girls married before this age1. Incredibly, great steps are being made to combat this. Did you know, in October 2024, the government of Malawi launched a strategy to eventually end child marriage? The goal is to reduce child marriage by 20% by focusing on initiatives that keep girls in school, transform harmful social norms, and strengthen legal protections against child marriage2. I’m really hopeful for the future.
Halifax Trading Malawi
When I was in school, I knew some girls who didn’t complete their education. Most of them said they couldn’t afford the fees or their parents had passed away so they had no choice but to marry. I’m so glad that there’s now a big commitment to safeguarding the futures of girls and young women so they have the chance of a better future ahead.
I’d like to tell you a little bit about Sarah*. A sweet little girl who, thanks to your incredible support, has stayed in school and enjoys learning because of the educational tablets your donations have made possible…
Sarah's story
Sarah is 10 years old. She goes to primary school. She lives with her sisters and parents in a village. She tells me there are children in her village who don’t even go to school.
Every morning, Sarah wakes up early, has her breakfast and walks to school. Her parents are very supportive of Sarah’s education and encourage her to go to school every day.
When the learning centres were built in her school, Sarah says she was “so excited to use the tablets and learn”. Since using the educational tablets, Sarah’s writing skills have improved a lot. She looks forward to coming to school every day so she can learn to read and write. When I asked what she wants to be when she’s older, she told me “I want to be a teacher like my teacher, Peter. I want to become a hard-working teacher and teach children how to read.” It’s so heart-warming to know the incredible teachers I get to work with, like Peter, are inspiring the children of Malawi’s future.
With the introduction of the educational tablets, more girls like Sarah have the chance to thrive in school, keeping them in education and out of early marriage. We are now looking at future teachers, potential engineers, nurses, lawyers, bankers, and more. Just imagine what potential could be unlocked with the education they’re now getting! It’s really incredible. Thank you for helping to transform education for them.
You can watch a short video below to see a glimpse of Sarah’s day at school.
Halifax Trading Malawi
Thank you
Thanks to people like you, the opportunity to change the lives of millions of children in Malawi through digital learning, has been presented to us all. As you sow your seed of contribution towards making dreams into a reality, and help to break the cycle of poverty, remember that no contribution is too small. Just like a mustard seed has the force to move a mountain.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all that you do.
Take care,
Wezzie Chimwala
Project Manager, Malawi
*Pseudonym used to protect identity of children
1 https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/learning-resources/child-marriage-atlas/regions-and-countries/malawi/
2 https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/articles/malawi-launches-national-strategy-to-end-child-marriage/
Want to ask a question?
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Your latest questions answered
It’s good to hear about the use of iPads and tablets to improve primary school learning. These early stages where children learn to read and write and do maths are so important.
Theonas
Indeed there are more problems here which cannot be listed despite the great need to make the children acquire the basics of education. The huge classes lead to issues of class management as you might have overheard on the video clip. Here classes with seats are sometimes available for senior classes only like grade 6-8, but in some schools only grade 8 enjoys them. Noel, let me encourage you to keep on supporting VSO with your finances otherwise it is through your support that most children have accessed digital learning. We appreciate your heart.
if children aged 7-9 are attending the Learning Centre in groups of 30, does that mean that each child in those year groups gets sessions? If not, how do teachers decide which children will attend?
Theonas
As for groups of learners attending sessions in the Learning Centre, take note that all learners are grouped in groups of 30 or 40 learners and each group is given an equal chance through the use of a timetable, this is where we appreciate and encourage you to continue supporting VSO so that more iPads or tablets are bought to allow more learners to attend a digital class at once. With these small groups of 30/40 learners, it is difficult and time consuming where a school has 300 learners plus because the learners will have a chance of attending one session only per week.
Did the children in the 'normal' classroom need encouragement to make it sound so noisy? I imagine not! And it makes a great contrast with the Learning Centre.
Theonas
What I know is that the noise is not by design it's a class management issue where the learners have been left uncontrolled for too long despite being a large class and they are are used to making noise otherwise learners were supposed to be quiet in class. Of course with inclusive education that Malawi is practising, some learners with learning disabilities especially those with mental problems and unsettledness could be some of these noise makers but the noise is on the higher side. .Alison, this where you will see that managing a class in highly enrolled schools is a challenge here in Malawi, one teacher against 100 + learners as opposed there where you have a teacher, assistant teacher and a volunteer to manage a class of 30. However, you can see that the quietness in the learning centre provides for a good environment for concentration and focus to most learners. This is because the number of learners in the group is small and that as we support the schools in the project we emphasise that learners should raise hands if they have issues and need support of some kind.
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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