Teacher in Nigeria for Bloomers initiative
Secondary school teacher at Maghemo in Karonga District Jane Chikapa is in Nigeria following a successful project in the Bloomers Learning Initiative.
Chikapa Wednesday made a presentation on the Bloomers Learning Initiative that saw her training students in writing short stories in the country.
She said ahead of her presentation that this is the first time for her to achieve this feat and that she believes the 24 writers she worked with will go out and mentor schoolmates and community members through Bloomers clubs.
Chikapa said that the project is vital in fighting illiteracy, which is a global problem, and, according to Unesco statistics, Malawi has an adult illiteracy rate of 61.2 percent, 130 in ranking compared with other countries.
Chikapa’s project stems from a call made in October last year for His Royal Highness Muhamad Sanusi II (HH MSII) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) challenge in conjunction with Queen’s University Canada.
The challenge was made by one million teachers from nine African countries including Malawi.
In her quest and passion for writing and reading, Chikapa embarked on the reading and writing short stories project where they trained, wrote and published short stories with 24 students from eight schools.
She said HH MSII challenge aims to inspire action and catalyse innovative community development activities that support the achievement of SDGs, particularly SDG Four, which is ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
She urged youths in the country to be fruitful and bloom regardless of where they are placed and the situations they face in life.
Some of the schools that have benefitted from Chikapa’s project include Maghemo Secondary School, Karonga School for the Deaf, Bwiba Primary School, Karonga St Mary, Kings Larieute Primary School, Karonga Girls. Katete Girls Primary, Katete Boys Primary in Mzimba and DMI University.
Chikondi Njaya, Malawi National Youth Network President Chikondi Njaya, said he is always happy when youths are able to bring change to their communities.
