NVP PRESENTATION

1. NVP PRESENTATION MALAWI’S POSITION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONALLY AGREED GOALS ON EDUCATION

2. Outline: • Background • Profile of Education Policy Development • Education Policy • The NESP 2008-2017 • Key Policy Challenges and Constraints • Key Policy Interventions • Progress on MDG Goals in Education • Emerging Opportunities • Key programmes under Implementation • The role of other stakeholders • Conclusion

3. Background • Malawi is a landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa • It is agro-based with tobacco as the main cash crop/foreign exchange earner • President: Ngwazi Professor Bingu Wa Mutharika who has steered sustainable growth of the economy (on average 6% p.a) • GDP at 6.5% withgrowth estimated at 7.1% in 2010/11 • Gross primary enrolment 97.9%, net primary enrolment 75.4% • First formal education plan-1973-80 provided guidelines for education development on primary, secondary and teacher education • Second plan- 1985-95 incorporated all levels of formal education including statutory organisations • Third was the Policy Investment framework 1995 to 2005 • NESP-2008-2017

4. Profile of Educational Policy Development • First Policy • 1973 - 1980 • The fulfillment of the specific needs of the labour market, • The development of a school curriculum with relevance to the socioeconomic and environmental needs of the country; • The improvement of efficiency in the utilization of existing facilities and resources; and the achievement of a more equitable distribution of educational facilities and resources • The equity of educational opportunity; • The promotion of efficiency in the system; • The improvement of physical and human resources; • The judicious use of limited resource. • Primary Education Level: The introduction of Free Primary Education; • Secondary School Education Level: The Change from a system of distance secondary school education to Community Day Secondary Schools; • Tertiary and Higher Education level: The revision of the Teacher Training Programme to address the high demand and high attrition rates at Primary and Secondary level; The establishment of the new Mzuzu University and the various reforms in the administration of University of Malawi towards making it autonomous. Promotion of private sector participation at all levels. v • Second Policy • 1985 - 1995 v • Third Policy 1995 - 2005

5. Education Policy: To develop an “efficient” and high quality system of education of a type and size appropriate both to the available resources and to the political, social and economic aspirations of the nation

6. THE NESP 2008-2017 • Sets Government ‘s view of Malawi education sector goals, objectives and strategies for the decade 2008-2017 • Linked to the statement of development policies • Vision 2020 • Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) • Millenium Development Goals • Education for All (EFA)National Plan of Action

7. THE NESP 2008-2017 • Has three thematic areas of intervention • Expanding equitable access to education • Improving quality and relevance of education to reduce drop out and promote effective learning • Improving governance and management to enable more effective and efficient delivery of education services. • Each thematic area has three Policy targets

8. THE NESP 2008-2017 • Expanding equitable access to education • Construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure • Reduction of Gross enrolment ration and increase of the Net enrolment ratio towards 100% • Achieving gender parity in primary and secondary enrolment

9. THE NESP 2008-2017 • Improving quality and relevance of education to reduce drop out and promote effective learning • Reduction of pupil teacher ratio in primary schools particularly standards 1 to 3; • Measurement and monitoring of learner outcomes; and • Systematic and regular inspection of schools

10. THE NESP 2008-2017 • Improving governance and management to enable more effective and efficient delivery of education services. • Decentralisation of management and financing of primary education • Improvement of efficiency index through reduced repetition and drop out rates • Increased role of private sector and private sector financing IT IS FROM THE NINE POLICY TARGETS THAT EACH DEPARTMENT DRAWS ANNUAL PROGRAMMES IN THE BUDGET

11. II. Key Policy Challenges and Constraints • Shortage of qualified primary school teachers: pupil-teacher, pupil-qualified teacher ratio 80:1, 91:1 • Inadequate and special need unfriendly physical infrastructure at all levels –Pupil : Classroom ration of 101:1 • Shortage of teacher houses particularly in rural areas. • High dropout rate in both junior and senior levels of primary education. Around 15% but 23% for girls in standard 8

12. II. Key Policy Challenges and Constraints • HIV pandemic: prevalence rate 12%, the sixth lowest in SADC but much higher than African 6.75% • Low enrolment rate for Higher Education due to limited infrastructure (), high unit costs (), inefficiencies and inequalities.

13. Key Policy Interventions • Inclusion of Education as a key priority in the National Development Strategy (MGDS) and providing framework for increased budgetary allocation towards education sector especially on infrastructure. • Development of Education Development Plans (EDP) . • Launch of National Education Sector Plan (NESP) a ten year education plan covering the period, 2008-2017 • Adoption of the Sector Wide Approach to coordinate and harmonise resource mobilisation for joint implementation and monitoring of the NESP • Promotion of girl child education • Focus on children with special needs • Unconventional teacher training programmes • Complimentary basic education to give drop out outs a second chance

14. Progresson MDG Goals in Education -Achieve Universal Primary Education Target . Ensure that by 2015, all Boys and Girls should be able to complete a Full Course of Primary Schooling • First Indicator -Net Enrolment

15. First Indicator-Net Enrolment • Steady increase observed from 73% in 2006 to 75.4 in 2010. • This is lower than projected target of 83% • Generally, lower rate observed in rural areas compared to urban due to accessibility problem • Very unlikely that Malawi can achieve the 100% MDG target in 2015 • The school meal programmes, girl child promotion programmes, accelerated classroom construction etc to try to reach the projected 2015 target of 92%, at least

16. Challenges to universal eduaction goal • shortage of qualified primary school teachers; • inadequate and disability unfriendly physical infrastructure; • poor retention of girls mainly from standard five to eight; • high disease burden due to HIV and AIDS consequently leading to absenteeism especially among girls who take care of the sick; and • poor participation of school committees and their communities in school management; and • Cultural practices

17. Figure 2: Proportion of Pupils Starting Grade 1 reaching Grade 5 Key MDGPolicy Goal -Achieve Universal Primary Education Target . Ensure that by 2015, all Boys and Girls should be able to complete a Full Course of Primary Schooling • Second Indicator -Proportion of pupils starting std 1 and reaching std 5 Proportion without repeating Proportion with repeating a grade

18. Second Indicator-Proportion of Children starting std 1 reaching std 5 • Steady decrease observed from 86% in 2006 to 62.7% in 2009. • This is lower than projected target of 85% • Shows it is very unlikely that Malawi can achieve the 100% MDG target in 2015 • The school meal programmes, girl child promotion programmes, accelerated classroom construction, scgool grants, bursaries etc to try to reach the projected 2015 target of 75%, at least

19. Indicator 2: Ratio of girls to boys in secondary education. Figure 3: Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary Education Key MDGPolicy Goal –Promote Gender Equality and empower women Target . Eliminate Gender Disparity in Primary and Secondary Education, preferably by 2005, and in all Levels of Education no later than 2015. 2ND Indicator -Ratio of girls to boys in secondary education • First Indicator -Ratio of girls to boys in primary education Source: MDHS 1992, 2000, 2004, EMIS 2008

20. First Indicator -Ratio of girls to boys in primary education • the ratio of girls to boys in primary school has increased from 0.91 in 2000 to 1.0 in 2009. • The narrowing of the gender gap in primary school enrollment rate could be a result of government policy shift towards girl child education. • With the abolition of school fees and school uniform as a requirement to attend classes, many households can afford to send their girl children to school. • In addition there are more programmes being implemented such as: School feeding programme, water sanitation, direct grants to schools and child-friendly schools. • The figure shows that Malawi has met the MDG Goal indicator.

21. 2ND Indicator -Ratio of girls to boys in secondary education • The ratio of has increased from 0.60 in 2000 to 0.79 in 2009 • However, ratio of 1:1 is unlikely to be attained by 2015. • Reveals that the education system loses a significant number of girls with progressive levels of primary education. • The reason for this is • early marriages and pregnancies, • family responsibilities and cultural demands. Girls are more likely expected to assume the roles of providing care and support for relatives that are aged or sick than boys. • Poor learning environment • Few female teachers who act as models • This implies that the elimination of gender disparities remains a challenge at secondary level. This is also true at tertiary level.

22. 2ND Indicator -Ratio of girls to boys in secondary education- Interventions • construction and expansion of girls boarding facilities in secondary schools and teacher training institutions; • Operationalizing the re-admission policy which provides students who withdrew on healthy grounds, a second chance to go back and continue with their education; • introducing equitable selection policy at secondary schools and higher education institutions for girls and boys to share 50 percent of places; • provision of bursaries to needy girls • provision of take home rations to deserving female students in targeted schools. • promotion of gender parity in teaching

23. Emerging Opportunities • Financing the education sector through joint financing arrangement (UNICEF, World Bank, DFID, GDC) • Construction/rehabilitation/upgrading of education facilities • Direct Support to disadvantaged children and grants through social support programs • Provision of relevant textbooks and teaching and learning materials • The development and implementation of an innovative Open Distance Learning (ODL); • Improvement of the teacher management Reform; DfID $90 million4years GDC $25 million3years W/Bank $50 million5years FTI $90 million3 years Total $255 million

24. Other Stakeholder interventions

25. Other sector interventions

26. Conclusion • background • NESP • Progress on achievement of MDG goals in education • Challenges and potential interventions • Looked at the role of other stakeholders • Strong and genuine partnership between government agencies and between government and partners (SWAP) • Significant private sector participation in education provision. • Mutual accountability over results between government and partners

27. THANK YOU • ZIKOMO KWAMBIRI