Govt, ILO applauds Standard Bank for enhancing education in Mulanje
Malawi’s Ministry of Education, together with the International Labour Organisation, have commended Standard Bank Plc for enhancing education and contributing towards eradication of child labour in Mulanje District.
The stakeholders were speaking at Gambula Primary School when Standard Bank made an investment of K10.2 million worth of educational materials to the Limbuli Education Zone using proceeds raised from this year’s Be More Race.
Dyson Mmina, Standard Bank Branch Manager for Limbe, said the donation is a response to the recent appeal made to private sector by Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) after a research by International Labour Organisation (ILO) exposed shortage of educational materials in the zone.
“As Standard Bank, we were alerted by Teachers Union of Malawi that schools in Limbuli Primary School Zone including Gambula were heavily affected by Tropical Cyclone Freddy as their teaching and learning materials were washed away,” he said.
Mmina added that every year proceeds from the Standard Bank Be More Race are allocated to supporting the education sector, hence the designation of Gambula for 2023.
He said the bank understands the role of education in safeguarding children from being exploited and participating in child labour practices prevalent in the district.
“Over the years, the race has developed a track record as a socially responsible corporate entity. The investment at this school fulfills our pledge to invest back into communities and continue to be a reliable partner for development more especially in the education sector.
“Today, we have donated 3,750 textbooks to the education district including core subjects such as Mathematics and English,” Mmina said.
Guest of honor, Grace Milner, who is director of basic education in the Ministry of Education, said the books will alleviate numerous challenges the Zone has been facing as a result of shortage of education material.
“The Ministry has shortage of books and we greatly appreciate Standard Bank for moving a step further through Be More Race to help us,” Milner said. “The materials will help the learners as well as the ministry to have up-to-date books that are a scarce commodity in pour schools.”
She added that the multi-beneficial donation will improve delivery of teachers as learners will be exposed to great references, saying: “It’s a great challenge when schools have no textbooks as teachers fail to delivery accordingly and enhance learners’ understanding.
“Textbooks help learners to have references in classrooms, therefore, learners get things easier when educational materials are available.”
Acknowledging the impact of Tropical Cyclone Freddy to education, the education director said basic education was severely hit as classrooms, textbooks, school feeding equipment and educational materials were damaged.
In expressing her gratitude to Standard Bank, Patience Matandiko — technical officer at International Labour Organization (ILO) Malawi — said the investment is a catalyst for development to the nation as well as improving productivity of learners.
“The donation have a great impact in reducing child labour because one of the courses of child labour is the lack of adequate of resources in schools. Therefore, the learners will be motivated to go to school and escape child labour that comes during their idle times.”
Matandiko added that the organization is yet to make assessment of child labour elimination in the district, saying: “For the past four years ILO has been supporting the government of Malawi in interventions aimed at eradicating child labour.
“We are working with other organisations to come up with evaluation strategies on ACCEL project and other initiatives,” she said.
This year the Bank has reiterated its commitment to serving the community by publishing its Report to Society alongside its annual financial report.
The Report to Society is a documentation of the Bank’s Social Economic & Environmental (SEE) initiatives that enable the organisation to operate a sustainable and profitable business entity.
The Standard Bank Be More Race has now become glamorous whose 2023 edition on June 17 was celebrated under the theme #LevelUp# — which challenged people to do more to achieve greatness as the country is recovering from the devastating effects of Cyclone Freddy.
At prize presentation ceremony, Standard Bank’s Chief Executive, Philip Madinga reiterated that the theme aimed to inspire the citizenry to do better in all their endeavors, and most importantly for each other.
The theme also resonated well with President Lazarus Chakwera #Operation Tigwirane Manja# (let’s held each other’s hands in these trying times) and Madinga emphasized that they wanted to motivate Malawians to do more in their collective efforts to achieve their dreams at individual, institutional, community and national level.
“The theme also encourages us to be more than average — to be extraordinary, to attain the best version of ourselves and to never give up and never get satisfied with mediocrity,” he had said. “As a nation, we can achieve our vision for a self-dependent, healthy, and middle-income country by 2030, as espoused in our vision MW2063.”
Launched in 2017 as flagship athletics and wellness event to engage existing and potential customers, key stakeholders, and communities — through a key uniting passion point; sport — the Be More Race had a two-year break following the CoVID-19 pandemic.
On its return last year, it was celebrated under the theme ‘Road 2 Recovery’ and was also used to raise funds to support academic pursuit for the girl-child at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School through construction of hostels.
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