Senior Chief advocates for by-laws to keep children in school
Senior Chief Chapananga of Chikwawa has called on all his subjects to ensure they promote by-laws advocating the keeping of children, especially girls, in school.
The Chief made the remarks Tuesday during the elevation ceremony of Group Village Headwoman (GVH) Timbenao to Principal GVH.
Chapananga said the by-laws have proved to be effective but needed the attention they deserved to ensure that they are enforced and issues of early pregnancies and teenage marriages are minimized in the district.
“Let’s be active in ensuring that the by-laws we have in our custody are put to effective use. We have had problems with school dropouts, early pregnancies and early marriages and it’s time we used these by-laws to end these problems,” the chief said.
The Senior Chief added that the by-laws which were being championed by the Malawi Red Cross Society in the district were distributed to all the Village Development Committees (VDCs) so that everyone has an access to them.
He indicated that positive outcomes are already being registered through the by-laws with one primary teacher being arrested for assaulting a standard six girl from Kanyongolo Primary School.
“Moreover, through the by-laws, let me give you powers to confiscate any entertainment unit played during school periods. This has been a challenge to the promotion of education in the district as most pupils rush to the entertainment centers instead of being in school,” the Chief said.
Chikwawa Red Cross, Project Officer, Cecelia Banda said they saw the need to enforce the by-laws formulated by the council to ensure that communities especially girls become educated.
“We supported the dissemination of the by-laws in TA Chapananga from the Area Development Committees (ADCs), the Village Development Committees (VDCs) and to all the chiefs. We took a role to disseminate them with information to all duty bearers like teachers and other community structures so that they are properly implemented,” she said.