Kunkuyu launches ‘adopt a school campaign’ in Blantyre
The Blantyre Urban District Education office Friday launched ‘adopt a school campaign’ aimed at calling on stakeholders to finance the construction and rehabilitation of school facilities including toilets and classroom blocks in order to improve the quality of primary education in the country.
Speaking when he presided over the official launch of the campaign at the Civic Centre in Blantyre, Minister of Information and Civic Education, Moses Kunkuyu said most of the schools in Blantyre lack sanitary facilities which is affecting quality of education in the district.
He said it was against this background that government is calling on stakeholders to intervene by adopting a school either by constructing or rehabilitating its infrastructure to ease the problem.
“This is not the responsibility of the government alone, which is why we are calling on the concerned parties to adopt a school either in a long or short term.
“When it is windy or rainy, most of the classes are abandoned because pupils cannot concentrate in such unconducive environment and this has contributed to poor performance among pupils,” said the Minister.
He further said poor sanitary facilities such as toilets, have contributed to high dropout rates in most of the schools in Blantyre, especially adolescent girls.
He disclosed that government is currently constructing a number of toilets and classroom blocks in various areas, adding that some classrooms have already been completed.
“For instance in Mbayani, government has constructed 16 classroom blocks, while eight in Chimwakhunda and Catholic Institute respectively. However, the enrollment level is still high, hence the urgent need for extra classroom blocks,” said Kunkuyu.
The Minister therefore, hailed the move taken by Blantyre District Education Manager and the district council to come up with the campaign.
Blantyre District Education Manager, Ruth Kambali said she was optimistic the adopt a school campaign would ease the challenges faced by most of the schools in the district.
She concurred with the Information Minister that dilapidated school blocks and lack of classrooms were affecting effective delivery of quality education in the district. Kambali added that when they discovered that in Blantyre there were many challenges locking the educational sector, they decided to come up with the District Education Plan (DEP) which is highlighting some of the problems and how to solve them.
Blantyre City has 58 primary schools with a total enrolment of 155,843 learners. The ratio of pupil to classroom is 1:159 which is not conducive for learning and the general health of the pupils.
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