In Malawi, most preschool teachers work for free, receive little professional training and have limited to no resources to assist them with teaching. They lack even the most basic teaching aids such as blackboards, chalk, books and toys. It is rare that preschools have their own school buildings – many share facilities with local churches or other buildings constructed for a different purpose. And, access to preschool is often dependent on location and/or voluntary community involvement which eliminates many young children. Official data on the number of preschools in Malawi is difficult to find because most schools are unregistered.

Ripple Africa runs eight pre-schools in Malawi by paying teacher salaries, supplying staff training, building new classroom blocks, and providing learning and teaching materials. To learn more about what Ripple Africa is doing to help preschool education in Malawi, Africa, please read the Preschool Education page.

Primary school education in Malawi is provided by the government, and is free to all students. Free primary school education was introduced in 1994, resulting in enrollment tripling from 1.6 million students, to over 3 million students in the first year of the policy change. This rise in enrollment led to a national shortage of classrooms and qualified teachers and had a monumental negative impact on the quality of education in the country.  Years later, most primary schools in Malawi continue to be under-resourced, under-staffed, and under-funded. This creates extremely challenging teaching and learning conditions for teachers and students alike.

Most primary schools in Malawi are very basic, lacking the most fundamental resources. Although some primary schools have brick classroom blocks, many students are forced to learn outside in temporary structures. This makes teaching virtually impossible during the rainy season. Often three students have to share one desk, if they are lucky enough to have desks at all, and it is extremely unusual for a primary school to have access to electricity. Although the government of Malawi provides government-paid teachers, there are rarely enough. Despite the government’s recommendation of a student to teacher ratio for primary schools of 60:1 (which is still considered very high), the average ratio in Nkhata Bay District’s primary schools is 96:1 due to a teacher shortage. The reasons for this shortage are twofold. First, there are not enough trained teachers who have completed all of their teaching requirements. Second, in order to attract good teachers to an area, teacher housing must be provided. These houses can be expensive to build but, without them, it is impossible to attract qualified educators to the area. (Throughout the entire Nkhata Bay District, there are only 536 teachers’ houses for the 1,500 educators teaching in the primary and secondary schools located there).

Although primary education in Malawi is free, students are required to purchase their own school uniform, pens, and notebooks, which many families find difficult. Most children own only one school uniform and in our local schools, Wednesday is a non-uniform day which allows parents to wash (and repair) the uniform for wear during the remainder of the week.

The primary school drop-out rate is high. Many students repeat one or more school years if they have needed to take significant time out of school and have fallen behind. It is very common for children in Malawi to come in and out of school depending on their family situation, employment and household responsibilities, pregnancy and early marriage, sickness, and more. By the time students leave primary school, many are far older than normal primary age and lose interest and/or drop out all together.

For most people in Malawi, primary education is the highest level of education they will achieve. Since many of the basic skills needed for life must be learned during these formative years, a quality primary education is critical for the long term well-being of the individual, the community, and development of Malawi as a country.

Ripple Africa supports six local primary schools in Malawi, including paying for teacher salaries and building new classroom blocks. We also, when possible, provide additional books, desks, and other learning resources, and materials. Our overseas volunteers help as teaching assistants sharing their knowledge and skills with their Malawian counterparts in the classroom too. To learn more about how Ripple Africa is helping to improve primary education in Malawi, Africa, please read the Primary School Education page.

Secondary schools in Malawi have four forms (referred to as Form 1 to Form 4), and run over three terms. These are generally from September to December, January to April, and April to July. Students have to pass their Malawi Secondary Certificate of Education (MSCE) in Form 4 in order to graduate from secondary school. Students study English, maths, agriculture, physics, biology, geography, history, bible knowledge, social studies, and ChiChewa.

Students can choose to be tested on any combination of these subjects, and can drop their lower scores and keep their best six. However, they are required to pass English and maths in order to graduate. The MSCE is often considered an adequate credential for most jobs, as very few students in Malawi will proceed from secondary school on to university. The official secondary school age group is defined as 14-17. However, ages vary drastically as many children don’t leave primary school until they are much older, and many drop in and out of secondary school according to their ability to pay their school fees.

Although many secondary schools are better resourced than their primary school counterparts, secondary school education in Malawi still varies greatly and is extremely under-resourced. Secondary school students in Malawi still struggle with poor student to teacher ratios, access to books and learning materials, adequate classroom facilities, and adequately trained teachers.

The quality of secondary education is low and retention and completion levels in secondary education are a challenge. Untrained secondary school teachers make up 42.5% of the total number of teachers at the secondary school level. The numbers of untrained teachers at the CDSSs is significantly higher than at Government Day or Boarding Schools, given that the latter can provide superior conditions for teachers than the CDSSs.

There are also additional challenges to education in Malawi which are unique to secondary school. In addition to prohibitive school fees, a lack of secondary schools in total means that many students in Malawi have to walk great distances just to attend school each day. This obviously has a huge impact on attendance as well as significantly cutting into study time. In the entire Nkhata Bay District, there are just 37 secondary schools which serve just 5,514 pupils, compared to 184 primary schools which serve 75,368 pupils. Many secondary school subjects, such as physics and biology, also require special facilities such as a laboratory for students to study and take a practical exam for their MSCE. Out of the 37 secondary schools in Nkhata Bay, only nine have laboratories and only two are test centres for the entire district. Most schools cannot even attempt to teach physical science, yet students wishing to study the subject will still be tested on the topic, for which they have never been properly taught. Only 19 of the 37 secondary schools in the district have libraries.

Although secondary school education remains a basic public service in many countries across the world, for most people in Malawi, the chance to attend secondary school is something very special. Millions of children in Malawi will never get the chance to experience secondary education at all. For those who do attend, inadequate teachers and a lack of proper facilities will still prove a challenge to their education. By the time the few students who will attend secondary school get to the end of their schooling, only the smallest fraction will ever go on to university. Secondary school education in Malawi remains something of great importance to most Malawians, and a goal which most young people strive towards.

Ripple Africa is helping to improve secondary school education in Malawi by supporting Kapanda Community Day Secondary School, which the charity has built. To learn more about how Ripple Africa is helping to improve secondary education in Malawi, Africa, please read the Secondary School Education page.

Access to higher education is based on passing the Malawi Secondary Certificate of Education (MSCE). A student must earn at least five credits, including English. This exam may be taken after completing eight years of primary and four years of secondary education. Students wishing to be accepted by the university must achieve excellent scores on these exams.

A Bachelor’s degree is normally earned after four years of concentrated study in residence. It takes five years to complete courses in law, education, agriculture, and commerce, and six years to finish the full engineering program. Honors degrees are awarded in some subjects and a professional qualification is awarded as a diploma after three years of study.

A Master’s degree requires an additional two years of full time study to complete, and a Doctorate degree is awarded after completing three to five years of study beyond the Master’s degree, a successful defence of a thesis or dissertation, and at least six months in residence at the university.

As of July 2018, less than 1% of Malawi’s population was enrolled in universities. Approximately 72% of all college students were pursuing degrees in education, 10.9% in the social sciences, 12.2% in science degrees, 3.9% in medicine, and 0.4% in the humanities. Given Malawi’s growing need for high-powered labor, the country will be dependent on expatriate skilled labor far into the foreseeable future, unless the university system expands to meet this need.

Please note that all information presented on this page is from Ripple Africa’s own local knowledge on the ground, and from the Nkhata Bay District Socio-Economic Profile (2010-2012) unless otherwise stated.