Education
Source: Malawi New Agency
In an attempt to reduce school drop-out among girls in Nsanje, Action Aid International Malawi has embarked on a two-week long initiative where they are engaging girls in the district’s rural schools in motivation talks.
Action Aid Nsanje Programme Coordinator, Maclean Chimpeni, told the Malawi News Agency (Mana) that many girls in the lower shire district drop out of school before reaching standard eight because they are not exposed to fellow females who have excelled in life after school.
“We have been working in Nsanje for about eight years and observation shows that many girls drop out of school before completing primary school.
“You find out that standard one to four have large numbers of girls enrolled but in other classes like standards five to eight, just very few,” he said.
The programme coordinator revealed that most of the girls in the district lack or have inadequate information on education as their right hence the need to provide them with the information using the right people who are within their society.
“Considering the challenges girls face in Nsanje, we are embarking on a campaign to reach out girls so that we can build their confidence and encourage them to remain in school and complete education.
“We also consider that there is scarcity of female workers in the society, this appears to be discouraging girls from completing their education,” Chimpeni said.
Chimpeni believes that bringing female role models working in various departments in the district closer to the school girls can help a lot in addressing the problem of high school dropout among them as they will be inspired and remain in school.
“We believe taking the female workers who experienced the same challenges as the girls in the rural areas, will make them feel part of the education process and continue with school and be responsible citizens,” Chimpeni explained.
According to Chimpeni, the exercise intends to reach out 2, 000 adolescent girls in the district who are from standard five to eight.
“These girls will also convey the messages to colleagues hence reaching out to many,” he added.