As primary and secondary schools open Monday, the Ministry of Education has warned primary school teachers against demanding registration fees from learners who are joining Standard 1.
The ministry has also advised teachers across the country not to send back learners that fail to pay school development fund contributions in the first days.
Ministry spokesperson Mphatso Nkuonera told The Daily Times Sunday that the ministry is striving to achieve the goal of 100 percent access to education.
He said, as such, they do not want people to create hindrances to education.
“[The authorities in] districts that hold initiation ceremonies should ensure that learners have been released from camps so that they can start learning with other learners. We respect culture but we, as a ministry, are also aware that education is a human right. Therefore, traditional leaders should be part of the force to make sure that children in their communities are at school when schools open,” Nkuonera said.
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He added that, recently, the ministry procured 550,000 primary school textbooks that were distributed to all the five education divisions while also ensuring that every student in community day secondary schools has a science and mathematics textbook.
Meanwhile, Teachers Union of Malawi (Tum) has assured parents, guardians and learners that teachers are geared for work.
Tum President Willie Malimba said he understands that the government has started distributing learning materials including textbooks.
He, however, said some schools are yet to receive them.
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“This is one of the challenges because, if you go to some schools, you will find that a class of 300 learners is using one book. A teacher cannot manage that class.
“Our request to the ministry is that it should send textbooks to schools. We had a long holiday and thought that those books would reach the schools in good time,” Malimba said.
Schools closed in July 2023 for the 2022-23 academic calendar and have now opened for the first term of the 2023-24 academic calendar.
