Malawi saving K2bn yearly on JC exams abolishment – Minister

Government says it can employ 850 secondary school teachers or install 30 laboratory classes out of the K2 billion which the Ministry of Education will save through the abolishment of junior certificate examination.

Minister of Education, Emmanuel Fabiano
Minister of Education, Emmanuel Fabiano: JCE not vital now

Minister of Education Emmanuel Fabiano said in Parliament when he was making a ministerial statement to explain to opposition parliamentarians the government decision to hike secondary school fees and abolish JC exams.

Fabiano said the JC exam as useless and a just a drain in government coffers as most if not all employers, including the government no longer recognises the certificate as minimum academic qualification for employment.

“In both eastern and southern Africa, it is only Malawi and Zambia that continues to administer the examination. The rest of the countries require national examinations at the end of the cycle of secondary school education,” he said.

He therefore said the K2 billion that the government used to spend in administering the examination will help improve learning and teaching process in secondary school.

Fabiano said the JC examination was also set at the time when form three and form four places were limited so it as used as way of getting brighter students to form three.

He said things have now changed as all secondary schools, including day and community secondary schools have places up to form four so it makes no sense to deny somebody a place.

After all, the minister said, the government wants Malawians to have complete secondary school education.

Fabiano also warned head teachers against sending back home students who fail to pay school fees within two weeks and replace their places during second selection, saying this system was discontinued.

He said students who pay 50 per cent of the fees can remain in school and if the student fails to pay school fees, the student can apply to have a place in the next academic season, saying access to education should not just be for the rich only.

Fabiano said this is why the government has increased bursary money from K430 million to K480 million a year to allow the poor access education.

The minister said the new bursary rules now allow traditional leaders and councillors to sit in council meetings to identify the needy for the bursary.

In addition to government, he said, Unicef and other organisations have their own bursary programmes with own criteria.

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Chenda
Chenda
8 years ago

Let us create another academic examination level above MSCE which is also not so marketable.

STIGMA
STIGMA
8 years ago

We will have the durest children .Let us spend to keep our children busy.

CC
CC
8 years ago

2 billion cannot be compared to the role JCE exams play in the education system of the country. more over, I doubt if we will be able to see any observable impacts of the 2 billion with the corrupt leaders we have in this country. DON’T DO IT .there are more costs than benefits attached if we abolish JCE exams.

lee
lee
8 years ago

keep on saving and compromise the educational standard in malawi,we are already wayback in terms of education and with this maphunzilo basi atha.

Joseph Moyo
8 years ago

amalawi timangovomera zilizonse basi zifukwa zothesera jc sizopindulira aliyense ndipo monga maso athu ali mbali imoz timayang’ananso mbali imozi tikakhala ndi negtive pa chinthu sitimayang’ana positive pachinthucho.muzisunga k2billion nanga poti ana 100000 akalipira boma limapanga over k2billion kwacha osaphatikiza ndarama zomwe boma limaika ku manebo?ndipo atagulisa jet adapangira chani chanzeru chomwe mungachiloze.kapena mungandiuze chaphindu chomwe chimachitilidwa ndarama akagulisa kampani?lastry a boma mundsuse ndnu openga mwathesa jc mwachangu chifufukwa chilungamo chake ndichakuti ana ali form1 adayenera kuzalemba mayeso a jc.ndpo kwa tuluka ntchito ku Bingu international stadium mukufunanso jc?mungosokoneza dziko chifukwa ichi ndi chimoz tizakukanizileni vot yathu.apa mwa ononga business ya… Read more »

Moses shuga
8 years ago

this government is ruling with critical thinking and caring ideas to the benefit of malawian.

Moses shuga
8 years ago

this government is ruling with critical thinking with caring ideas to the benefit of malawian.

Ineyo
Ineyo
8 years ago

I am a former secondary school teacher and headmaster and have a divided opinion on the matter. I would like to agree that JCE has become irrelevant on the job market and from that angle its abolition seems logical. However, experience tells me that after sitting for JCE, our students tend to relax when they are in form three (to use their language the say “tili pa mtsetse”, we are free). This means that students will now be “pa mtsetse” for 3 years and perform miserably at MSCE. Those students who sit for Cambridge exams sit for Check Point Exams… Read more »

jones
jones
8 years ago

Malawians let’s rise up against this madness. what is 2billion today in comparison to the importance of education. You want to save 2billion, @ the same time u are spending billions of kwacha on malata & fertiliser subsidies, my foot!

Inu
Inu
8 years ago
Reply to  jones

I think the question to you is why is the JCE important? Have you seen any ad that requires someone to have a JCE? Even cuards now the requirement is MCE. Standard 8 exams are still relevant since it isba selection criteria to secondary school similary with MSCE. But what purpose do JCE exams serve. I tell you what, it is just to make students study for exams instead of knowing the stuff. Malawians, let us not just oppose for the sake of opposing. I can sense consertativeness among those people because we are afraid of change. There is no… Read more »

Ray
Ray
8 years ago

What is happening is mad if u know that u done with your future do not destroy others future .please leave everything the way as it was .

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