CSEC, Book Aid International secure MK85m worth books for 16 Malawian schools
Sixteen schools—eight Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSSs) and eight primary schools—will share 4844 books, thanks to Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) and United Kingdom-based Book Aid International (BAI), who mobilized the books worth over MK85 million.
CSEC Executive Director, Benedicto Kondowe, told journalists on Thursday in Lilongwe that the coalition signed a partnership with BAI, a UK charity, to be securing books in order to support a reading culture in selected schools, among other objectives.
This first consignment, according to Kondowe, will be donated to the 16 schools that were already earmarked in four districts, namely: Mzimba North, Mchinji, Lilongwe and Salima—which are CSEC’s current project sites.
He said CSEC and BAI want to help the government in ensuring that schools are well resourced with additional reading materials.
“This effort is important considering that in most schools there is high pupil-book ratio. For some subjects it is actually one to eight. This makes learning problematic.
“We believe mobilizing additional materials will help books to be better resourced so that learners have the opportunity to learn.
“Knowledge is not just a question of having a teacher in class. There is a lot of additional learning that come with the supply of additional books.
“We believe these books will contribute towards the delivery of quality education,” said Kondowe.
He added CDSSs have been targeted for secondary school resource books “in the spirit of ensuring equity in education as these schools are highly deprived”.
Kondowe further said the next consignment of about 5000 books, which will arrive by June 2023, will be supplied to schools in all Southern Region districts affected by tropical cyclone Freddy.
He also disclosed that CSEC is mobilizing its members and already discussing more interventions they need to undertake currently in order to help affected schools with infrastructure and water and sanitation facilities, among others.
According to Kondowe, BAI has been working with the National Library Services (NLS) for many years and the new partnership with CSEC seeks to leverage their ongoing work with NLS. For this reason, said Kondowe, CSEC works closely with NLS who are the focal recipient of all books, including the donation to CSEC.
The schools that will receive the first consignment of books are:
Kamilaza and Manyamula CDSSs, Manyamula and Kalweya primary schools in Mzimba North.
Mkanda and Gumba CDSSs, Mkanda and Lameck primary schools in Mchinji.
Malingunde and Phiri Lanjuzi CDSSs, Malingunde and Mphuzi primary schools in Lilongwe.
Mbirila and Thavite CDSSs, Kanong’ola and Kalembo primary schools in Salima.
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