Back to school for Malawi's teenage mothers
06 February 2008
Related pages:
Malawi country profile |
Millennium Development Goal 2: Education |
Millennium Development Goal 3: Gender
 Image courtesy of Giacomo Pirozzi/Panos Pictures
In Malawi, early marriage and pregnancy are a major cause of girls dropping
out of school. In 2006, it is estimated that over 11,000 girls left primary education in
Malawi for these reasons.
Marriage and pregnancy rates also go some way to explaining why
girls perform less well than boys in Malawi's schools. Female pupils are
often forced to repeat school years, not passing their final exams until well
into their teens.
DFID is committed to seeing that all children, both girls and boys, go to
primary school, and that, once they are there, they receive a quality education.
Between 2003 and 2006, we supported a programme - Partnership in Capacity
Building in Education (PACE) - that worked to achieve these crucial goals.
Villagers get behind their schools
Communities were central in shaping the plans to
improve schools. Once local people had identified their major needs, school
management committees got on with
implementing them, which included incorporating them into district education plans.
One sub-committee in particular had a big effect in tackling issues around
early pregnancy and marriage. The alangizi - "mother group" - was made up of
women from villages around the schools. It conducted regular
meetings with local leaders and parents, discussing instances where a
girl's education had been disrupted. Head teachers then fed back to the main
committees with this information, enabling them to intervene in
specific cases.
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A second chance for Fasileni
Fasileni John is one girl who benefited from PACE and the help of the
alangizi. Fasileni knew that her education was over when, at only 13, she became pregnant during her school holidays.
And no education meant the end of her dream of becoming a nurse. Like so many
before her, she was forced to drop out of school to face the challenges of
motherhood. With her parents taking badly to the news of her pregnancy, Fasileni
was sent to live
with her grandmother in a small village in another district.
Now 16,
Fasileni has a 3-year-old son, and, thanks to a recent change in education
policy, is back in class. The policy change, which was influenced by the
findings of PACE and other initiatives, allowed girls to go back to school after
becoming pregnant. Two other girls were also readmitted to Fasileni's year at
primary school at the same time as her.
Fasileni has seized this second chance with great enthusiasm. “I am happy
that I am back in school and I want to work hard to become a nurse,” she says,
adding that, were it not for the alangizi, she would probably be married by now.
Later in the year, Fasileni will take her final examination, and feels
her ambition of becoming a nurse is no longer so far-fetched.
While she lives with her grandmother, her son
is being cared for by her parents (at the recommendation of the alangizi),
giving her time alone to study.
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A better future for more of Malawi's girls
Almost 300 girls have been readmitted to schools across Malawi since the
introduction of the readmission policy. Without this second chance, these girls
would have been condemned to a life of poverty. But schools and communities must
get behind such policies if they are to work in the longer term.
Through PACE, DFID has supported Malawi's Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology to understand how this can best be achieved.
The lessons from PACE have already influenced important new policies like the National Education Sector Plan and the National
Strategy for Community Participation in Primary School Management. As these are
rolled out, more girls like Fasileni will stay in education, learning the
lessons that could give them a much more fulfilling future.
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Key facts
- In 2006, there were 18,270 more girls than boys in the first
grade of primary school (Standard 1). By Standard 8, there were 18,500
more boys, and girls represented only 44% of enrolments. Pass rates for the
primary examination were also a full 10% lower for girls than boys.
- PACE was implemented by the aid agency
 CARE
International. DFID's contribution to PACE was £1,050,323.16 between
2003 and 2006.
- PACE focussed on supporting the strengthening of school management
committees, in part to develop school improvement
plans (SIPs) at the community level. By the close of 2006, 1,115 schools had
developed SIPs – over a fifth of Malawi’s 5,231 primary schools.
PACE
was implemented at the district level through an alliance between the Ministry
of Education, Science and Technology and civil society
organisations.
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