By Wilfred Golden
In a quest to eradicate school dropouts among teenagers in the country, a non-governmental organization called Organization for Sustainable Social-Economic Development Initiative (OSSEDI) is implementing a five-year project dubbed ‘Enhancing Inclusive Quality Education’.
The project seeks to improve infrastructure development in primary schools and welfare of primary school children in the area of Traditional Authority Kabudula in Lilongwe.
The goal of the project is to ensure that all children have quality education in the area of Traditional Authority Kabudula.
OSSEDI Board Chairperson Chrissy Mbundungu said this is taken as a mitigation factor to major problems that these children do face in accessing education as this project is also complement with government efforts towards improving education standards.
“We thought of spearheading this project inorder to increase access to good education as many young learners were finding it difficult to reach out to school because of long distance but as now the project is progressing we are seeing a dramatic change as schools within the area are taking good shape. Above all, there was no motivation among learners but with the coming in of this project, learners are receiving school equipments and are really being motivated,” she said.
This was said during the commemoration of a Day of African Child which was organized by OSSEDI on 22nd June, 2024 at Traditional Authority Kabudula in Lilongwe.
District Social Welfare Officer for Lilongwe Derrick Mwenda urged parents and guardians to promote early childhood education among their children in order to reduce early school dropouts as this provides commitment spirit and good foundation for education among children.
Through the initiative which is being funded by Child Fund Korea, OSSEDI Malawi is expected to build fifteen to twenty modern school blocks in primary schools around T/A Kabudula.
Statistics indicate that in the country, about 30 percent of children under the age of 6 to 17 are engaged into child marriages with close to 1,200 teenage pregnancies as well as registering over 1,500 cases of school dropouts annually.
Across Africa, Day of African Child is commemorated on 16th June annually, but this year Malawi has commemorated this day on 22nd June, 2024 under the theme; Education for all children in Africa, the time is now.
