The Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) released results of the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations last week, in which almost half of the students failed.
Yes, you heard that right – more than 45 percent of those who sat these exams failed.
It even becomes more alarming when you translate that percentage into actual figures. It is 70,286 candidates who did not make it in this year’s MSCE exams. And, please, do not forget to put human faces, families and futures to these figures. These figures represent lives whose futures have suddenly become uncertain. They have failed to pass the first test that could see them jump across the poverty line.
One of the problems we have in our country is pretence. We choose to ignore things that matter and go on with life as if everything is alright. Leading this line of misdirection are our elites, who choose not to pay attention to the most vulnerable in order not to feel bad about their own privilege.
It is difficult to live in a place like Malawi, where most of the population sleep on empty stomachs while very few people have food— enough to throw away.
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It even becomes harder when you are the privileged, but with a human heart; somebody with enough kindness to think about the plight of others. And there are not many among us who are that human.
As such, you should not be surprised to see that most of the stories we have read and heard about the MSCE results are stories told by the elite for the elite. They are positive stories that scream: 54.4 percent pass MSCE!
Catholic schools dominate the list of top performers! And other such stories. The elites have gone a step further to debate how the private schools they send their children to have outshined each other.
They have posted those bundles of joy in washed and ironed school uniforms, standing in front of the three-story buildings in which they studied for the exams.
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Very few people talk about those who have failed. Even in the news, details of the community day secondary schools (CDSS), where no students have passed, come very late when the most important things have already been said.
That is where we lose it. Our government and our society do not pay enough attention to the least fortunate of us. CDSSs are places where poor people send their children to fail.
These are often poorly constructed structures that resemble schools while having none of the resources a school ought to have.
A CDSS is a politician’s lie to the people – a semblance of concern when they are well aware that no child can get a full education in such spaces.
A typical CDSS has no teachers, no laboratories, no classrooms – nothing. These are places where average Malawians are sending their children to learn, and nobody wants to tell their stories. We are more excited about tales of conquest.
Understanding where we come from, it was quite absurd to hear the Deputy Minister of Education saying that the government is doing all it can to make sure that education standards are improved in this country.
The lady went on to say that they are also investigating to find out what happened for these poorly funded schools to perform badly.
The ministry is singing bad tunes we have heard before; obscene songs that insult us. They are trying to tell us that they are so surprised by the failure that they want to find out why students who are never given an education have failed their exams. That is just how we roll in this country – like a bad river.
The MSCE results have revealed one thing, and one thing only. That thing is that our government is doing nothing to improve the lives of poor people – to give them basics, like education, that could see them cross the sea of poverty.
The fact that only one government secondary school is in the top 10 tells you of just how little attention the authorities have paid to education. They are waiting for churches to educate their children for them.
That is just how irresponsible they are. And the fact that CDSSs are the worst performers tells you that our politicians still have nothing to offer to the poor.
