Germany committed to continue supporting Malawi’s education sector

Germany Ambassador to Malawi, Jurgen Borsch says his government will continue its support towards the promotion of primary education in Malawi.

German ambassador with school officials 

He was speaking Wednesday during the handover of sanitary facilities at Sonzowa Primary School in Traditional Authority Chigaru in Lirangwe, Blantyre.

Borsch said school drop-out is partly attributed to lack of proper sanitary facilities and unhygienic learning environments, especially among adolescent girls as they tend to miss classes.

Realizing this challenge, the German Ambassador said his government decided to fund Umodzi Youth Organization (UYO) to construct some sanitary facilities in some selected schools.

“It is important for a school to provide a safe and clean environment to learners in order to address school absenteeism and reduce drop-out rate,” said Borsch.

He disclosed that the German Government was working closely with the Ministry of Education Science and Technology in ensuring that every child has a fair and equal access to education despite a particular school’s geographical location.

He said last year, his government donated K7.4 million worth of books to public primary schools in the country.

In his remarks, UYO Project Manager, Shy Ali hailed the German Government for funding the K8 million project, saying: “We have constructed sanitary facilities with six pit latrines and one urinal for boys and one change room for girls during menstruation.“

Ali said before the project, Sonzowa Primary School had two latrine blocks of two rooms each which served 530 learners (286 boys and 244 girls).

Ali said apart from providing toilets, UYO Project has also been carrying out water, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities aimed at engendering behaviour change in the interest of maximising benefits from the sanitary facilities.

Wellington Khuvulo, who represented the District Education Manager at the handover function, expressed gratitude towards the work that UYO and the German Government had done.

“Of late, the school has a number of girls dropping out of school due to a hostile sanitary environment and we believe that construction of the facilities will reduce school dropout,” said Khuvulo.

He, therefore, asked the German Government to continue supporting the school, especially with a library and additional classroom blocks as some learners were still learning under tree shades.

Shakira Burto, a Standard 8 learner, hailed the German Government for the support and promised to take care of the facilities.

UYO is non-governmental organization that focuses its operations on education, human rights advocacy, governance and democracy to ensure that citizens are fully involved and participate in all socio-economic programmes towards achieving national development

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