Malawi dossier
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Transcript of Malawi dossier
Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world.”
BACKGROUND
Malawi is a small country in south-east Africa,
slightly bigger than Scotland but with three times its
population. It became independent in 1964 but has
struggled to develop.
It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a low life expectancy and
high infant mortality rates. HIV/AIDS is widespread. It suffered severe famine in
2003 but has in recent years increased its food production rapidly. It is
known as “the warm heart of Africa”
Scotland and Malawi
There have been strong links between
the two countries for more than 150 years.
This began with David Livingstone's journey to
Malawi in 1859 and has continued to grow
ever since with an ever increasing movement
of people and ideas between the two countries
which has continued to benefit both nations.
A formal partnership now exists between the two countries
(www.scotland-malawipartnership.org)
Malawi’s second biggest city, Blantyre, is named after the town in south
Lanarkshire where David Livingstone was born.
Millennium Goal 2
By the year 2015 every child will have completed a full course of primary education.
Recent Progress
Malawi has had some success in its attempts to
achieve Millennium Development Goal 2
that, by 2015, every child in the country
will be able to complete a full primary
education. These are some of the main
developments:
o Primary education is not compulsory but
every child is entitled to go to primary
school
o In 1994 primary education became
free to all children
o This increased attendance rates
immediately
o Literacy rate has gone up from 76%
to 86% since the year 2000 (15-24 year
olds)
o As many girls as boys are enrolling in
primary school and almost as many girls
are literate.
In 2011 the government of Malawi:
o increased the number of teachers and
assistant teachers being trained
o began a policy of building an extra 1500
classrooms per year
o started to give extra assistance to rural
schools
o made school uniform optional
Billy and Eilidh quizzing the Deputy Minister
of Education in his office in Lilongwe,
February 2012
CURRENT PROBLEMS
It was ambitious of the Malawian government to make primary education free but it
has since found it very difficult to support this with sufficient trained teachers and
classrooms.
These are the main problems:
CAUSES OF THE
PROBLEMS
Why does Malawi have these problems?
Malawi does not have enough money because
the country doesn’t produce expensive goods – just primary goods
which fetch low and unreliable prices
70% of the country’s exports is tobacco and its price varies a lot
other countries place restrictions on what Malawi can sell abroad
it has to spend a lot of its money repaying debts to other countries
it is prone to natural disasters, especially drought,
which some say is due to the climate changing
Because Malawi does not have enough money,
it has not been able to train all its teachers.
Because it does not have trained teachers, pupils are not taught well and drop out. Because Malawi does not have enough
money, it has not been able to build
enough classrooms so many classes
have to be taught outside which is impossible in the rain, so pupils drop out. Because Malawi does not have enough money,
it has not been able to build toilets in every
school. This puts off many girls from attending school.
1 b
a
c
d
e
2
3
4
CAUSES OF THE
PROBLEMS - LOCAL
5 Although there are no school
fees there are often hidden
costs eg school uniform,
books to buy or a school
development fund to be paid.
So the poorest children do not
attend school but go out and earn
money instead.
6
Many schools do not
know the educational
policy and still insist
that pupils wear
school uniforms.
7 Many children from poor
families do not have
breakfast.
They are much more likely to go
and earn money to get food than
go to school.
8
In many areas it is
normal for girls to
get married early. It
is also the culture
that girls should look
after younger
siblings when they
become teenagers.
So they drop out of
SOLVING THE PROBLEMS
In many ways life in Malawi is improving
and the country is developing. But
education at the moment is not. In our
opinion, if more Malawian children do
not go to school and stay at school, then
the country will find it much more difficult
to improve in future and may slide back
into further poverty.
Research says that education is the
route out of poverty:
- for an individual,
- for a region, and
- for a whole country
We think there are a few ways we can all help.
Two of the main problems are that it still costs money
to go to school in Malawi and the country does not
have enough teachers. It would help if we urged the
Malawian President and Minister of Education to do
everything they can to invest more in education.
We shall also tell our Prime Minister and Department
for International Development.
You can download our petition here (http://s1challenge.blogspot.co.uk).They will all be sent
together to the Malawian High Commission to be forwarded to the Malawian President.
“Forget sending money; forget
volunteering; the best way to help the
Developing World is to lobby on their
behalf. This is the one thing we can do
better. To put it bluntly, we carry
more clout.”
Fairtrade sells:
Sugar Peanuts
Macademia nuts, and
Tea All from Malawi
You can sponsor a school in
Malawi with Mary’s Meals
(www.marysmeals.org) . The
money is used to feed the
children with porridge each day.
A free nutritious meal is a great
incentive for them to go to
school. Alternatively your money could be used to build the kitchens they need at the
schools.
Many people are too poor to keep their children in
school. If families had more money, more children would
go to school.
If you sponsor a Malawian child with ActionAid, the money goes to the whole community there, not the child.
Instead of giving money, you could give the local people a hand up not a hand out. You can lend money to people in Malawi wanting to set up businesses, using micro-financing organizations such as www.kiva.org or www.microplace.com . The latter company pays interest on your loans.
The more we buy, the more they sell, the better-
off the workers should be. Their companies should make more money and the government can collect more taxes from them.
It would be particularly good to buy ethically-produced Malawian goods, such as Fairtrade goods.
It is well documented that some companies in Malawi employ children – some as young as five. This goes on especially on the tobacco farms.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/sep/14/malawi-child-labour-tobacco-industry
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8218253.stm
Channel 4 made a programme on child labour in Malawi.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/episode-guide/series-2010/episode-4
We do not know which tobacco companies
employ child labour in Malawi.
But, please write to the big tobacco
companies asking them whether the
tobacco they use is grown on farms using
child labour. It lets them know that we are
taking an interest.
www.scotland-malawipartnership.org
http://www.nyasatimes.com
01 June 2012
Malawi's new president sells off
presidential jet and 60 Mercedes
Joyce Banda, Malawi's new president, has
announced the presidential jet and fleet of 60
Mercedes limousines would be sold in a
move applauded by a British cabinet
minister as an example to other African
leaders.
It’s beautiful. It’s exotic. It’s different. And a holiday in Malawi gives lots of jobs to Malawian people – in hotels, restaurants and shops, in construction and in transport. And these people and the hotels, restaurants and shops will all pay taxes, so the government will have more money.
Lake Malawi, the lake of stars –
the big blue
Explore the endless turquoise blue
waters of tropical fish, golden beaches
and breathtaking sunsets
Mulanje – the magical mountain
Tea estates, rock pools, crystal clear
streams and abundant wildlife on an
island in the sky.
Luangwa Game Reserve – the jungle
out there
Watch the creatures of the night, live
the untouched wilderness as the
elephants cross you for a cooling drink.
Zomba Plateau – the idyll lost in time
Break away from the savannah, discover
an Africa of abundand rain, waterfalls
and an unusual ecosystem
You might prefer to support wider campaigns which help Malawi as well as other
developing countries.
Poverty/the MDGs www.endpoverty2015.org
Health www.gatesfoundation.org
Mothers www.whiteribbonalliance.org
AIDS www.worldaidscampaign.org
Unfair trade www.maketradefair.com
Debt repayments www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk
Gender www.girleffect.org
Toms Shoes www.toms.co.uk Elephant juice www.elephanjuicefood.com
The Global Campaign for Education
A few words from Eilidh Naismith and Billy Davidson, Young Ambassadors for the Global Campaign For Education
Hutchie supports the Global Campaign for Education. Research has shown
that, in every Developing country, when more children attend school:
the prospects for the child improves,
the prospects for the local community improves and
the prospects for the whole country improve
The GCE is a global organisation working to ensure quality education for all; they fully believe this aim is achievable. The organisation was set up by teachers’ unions, child rights campaigners and charities. There are now more than 100 countries involved who all want to ensure education for all.
They want to put pressure on all world leaders to make sure they keep their promise that by 2015 every child receives a quality primary education. There are still 67 million children not getting an education.
The GCE run various campaigns and competitions, our school takes part in the
Send My Friend to School Campaign of which the aim is to raise awareness of
global education in schools across the UK. We want schools across the UK to get
involved and help us to reach the target by 2015!
We currently have the honour of being the Young
Ambassadors for the Global Campaign for Education
for 2012.
As ambassadors we took on a year of engagements
such as writing articles for newspapers and
magazines, writing blog posts, speaking to politicians,
making speeches and presentations as well as
spreading the word and trying to get schools involved in the Olympic – themed
2012 campaign. Our first task was to find out more about the barriers to education
and travel to Malawi where less than half of Malawian children finish even a
basic primary education. We only have space to mention four children we met, but
our visit can be seen on video at: http://youtu.be/ivsVfT5qlcs