For closed private schools govt should…| Cydric Damala and Fletcher Simwaka

Sunday, 20 December 2009
Source: Sunday Times (Malawi)

You can list them; the welcome interventions in the education sector — change of the school calendar, introduction of new syllabus, additional graduate teachers to secondary schools and the improvement of infrastructure. And then the closure of sub-standard private schools.

All these are deliberate efforts by government to clean up the educational sector in Malawi. No wonder, the good JCE results this year have been attributed to these interventions. Standing at a pass rate of 67.30 percent, this year’s JCE performance represents the best results in five years.

However, what has left many Malawians worried is the closure of 841 private schools all over the country for failing to meet the minimum required standards for operation. Of the 1,122 private schools inspected, 841 were below par. Most of them do not have the required qualified human resource, their infrastructure is poor, many of them are not registered and worse still, most of the schools do not have the necessary basics for learning.

Imagine a school enjoying the notoriety of offering science subjects like biology and physical science but has no laboratory; a school employing MSCE holders to teach MSCE candidates. It has further been disheartening to see a school with hundreds of students but having only one textbook, sometimes a borrowed one, and yet the aim is to succeed — what success!

It therefore comes as no surprise that since the dawn of liberalised education environment, which was occasioned by the multiparty dispensation, our education standards have been nose-diving. Too much freedom in the sector has put other peoples’ education rights, more especially rights of those in the education system, on a litmus test. While operating under the guise of offering high quality education, most private schools have taken their beneficiaries for granted. Money seems to come first and quality of education is placed at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Cries from other quarters that government should open the closed private schools should, therefore, be treated with caution. It is true that the closure of these schools has inconvenienced many parents/guardians and the students themselves. Already, there are reports that some schools have registered more than the required number of students as a result of this. Also, as a result of this inspection, most private school owners have suffered a major setback in their entrepreneurial plans for this academic year. What they invested this year has very little chances of being recovered if they fail to live up to the required standards in time.

One may also not run away from the fact that those underprivileged students who solely depended on scholarships from the closed schools courtesy of the school owners, have been left stranded. It may also be a sheer misrepresentation of facts if one fails to recognise the fact that some of the schools which have been closed enjoy the best performance in the examination results.

Nevertheless, quality education which is a result of many factors, including the availability of qualified teachers and a standard infrastructure, cannot be put at the mercy of efforts that solely aim at increasing access to education. There is safety in numbers, they say, but there is an even greater value in quality than quantity. It is good to have many institutions but is it in the best interest of every nation to provide high quality education. It is therefore in line with this that the clean up exercise by the Ministry of Education should be supported.

By closing sub-standard and unregistered private schools, the ministry is trying to offer long term solutions to issues of dwindling standards of education in the country. Obviously, it makes very little sense to have thousands of people in schools but end up having a handful educated people due to high failure percentages. The blossoming of unregulated private schools in Malawi in the recent past has put our standards of education on a downward turn.

Today, it is very common to have a form four dropout who can hardly construct a grammatically upright sentence unlike in the past when even a standard five dropout could safely do this. It thus beats all the reasoning that some quarters who lament of the sinking education standards should insist that government open the closed private schools regardless of whether they have rectified the problems or not.

Malawians never deserve the poor standards of education which most of these schools offer them. Neither are they a better prey for their money in the name of school fees. They deserve a better education offer for their money and it is just very interesting that the Ministry of Education has realised this.

Otherwise, what we should have been complaining is that these efforts are coming at a time when a lot of damage has already been inflicted in the education sector. It would have done our education justice if such efforts came immediately after the liberalisation of the sector. This could have stopped most people from making easy money in the name of contributing towards literacy. It could have helped to sustain beer halls which bore the name private school.

Timely intervention would have helped save money which some used to buy low quality education in the private schools. For once, we would have rescued those who failed examinations, because of poor schools, from the pangs of being called uneducated people. As it stands, the most interesting is that many players in the private schools associations have patted government on the back in the exercise.

Independent Schools Association of Malawi (ISAM) president Joseph Patel did not hide his feelings: “Most of the schools which were closed deserved that action because they had poor structures and inadequate and unqualified teachers.” The good news, however, is that most schools are hurrying up efforts to rectify their shortfalls. Already, 300 schools are set to be off the hook before January and this is a clear signal that sanity is returning to the sector. Very soon all those who used to complain about where to go will find solace in this fact.

Perhaps, one simple advice to Ministry of Education is that it should not downplay criticisms from some quarters that some government schools also need urgent clean-up otherwise its efforts will be viewed as a mechanism solely aimed at curtailing private sector business in the country.

All in all, it will do the education sector a lot of justice if the closed schools are not opened unless they rectify their problems.
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Government should consider opening them

BY FLETCHER SIMWAKA

Let me start by pointing out that government’s decision to intervene in the mess in the education sector, especially secondary education, was welcome and made a lot of sense. Any well-meaning government has to come to the rescue of the situation if something goes amiss.

And closing ‘sub-standard’ private secondary schools seemed the only solution to the ills bedevilling our educational institutions. The nation was witnessing a scenario where everyone could wake up one day and establish a private secondary school anywhere.

No wonder, it was commonplace that some pupils would learn behind the noisy bars, just in search for education. Those claiming having schools with boarding facilities would charge exorbitant fees, with others opening as they pleased. The infrastructure, true, was an eyesore; the learning materials were conspicuously missing.

Even hard to fathom were the academic qualifications of the teachers. A form four drop-out would be found teaching form three pupils. And the question of poor qualifications of teachers also seems more of an issue even in government schools. Pathetic, really this is.

In fact, as Policy and Advocacy Director for Link for Education Governance Andrew Ussi said: “We still need to work hard on training teachers”. This is true. We gather Malawi’s education sector is in a situation where out of 11,397 teachers, only 4,269 are qualified. This is a sad tale, indeed, also requiring government’s intervention.

However, there are certain decisions which, if implemented in haste, backfire and consequently paint a very dirty image of the ministry in particular and government as whole. The recent closure of ‘sub-standard’ private secondary schools across the country has proved just that, at least if the large number of stranded pupils we have at the moment is anything to go by.

Two weeks ago, the Malawi National Examination Board (Maneb) was being patted on the back for an excellent administration of Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) examinations which saw over 67 percent of the pupils passing. Sadly, however, the same pupils who were celebrating are having a tough time in finding the schools to further their studies.

Already, the new academic calendar started two weeks ago; yet 620 out of 880 private secondary schools are closed. And that begs the question: Where will the some of the successful pupils go for their form three education?

Looking at the number of closed secondary schools, one is left with the conclusion that many secondary school pupils are helpless. There is no way the few remaining private secondary schools can absorb all the students, for that will also mean watering down the quality of education, an ill government is fighting.

But then, for a poor pupil, this might as well mean the end of his or her education. With the few private secondary schools in operation against the rising demand from pupils, the private schools in operation will be compelled to hike the school fees. And I don’t think government will again blame those private secondary schools for the fee-hike.

With more students, there is need for more books, more sanitation facilities and boarding facilities. At the end of the day, however, it will not be the government suffering, but innocent poor pupils whose education welfare hinged on the closed private secondary school.

The plight of the helpless pupils can be summarised in the words of the president of Private Schools Association of Malawi (Prisam): “It was unfortunate that the calendar starts at a time when the association and government have not agreed on the way forward.”

This aptly suggests the decision to close ‘sub-standard’ private secondary schools was a rushed one, something that did not take into account the consequences that have now resulted. The ministry of education shouldn’t have rushed into closing the substandard schools.

I gather the affected schools have been given a timeframe to work on the certain areas before they storm back into operation. But, given the space of time, one can only feel for the innocent pupils who are now at the receiving end. Government should have given substandard schools enough time to work on the areas it felt were wanting, while allowing schools to operate.

If at all closing the schools seemed the only appealing option, then government shouldn’t have rushed in changing the school calendar. Everybody now knows that even the change of school calendar has created unnecessary pressure for the government. The schools opened on December 7, but reports indicate there are no books for the standard 4 and 8, as demanded by the new syllabi.

Back to the issue of closed private secondary schools, government should have looked at the issue with a holistic and consultative approach. Government should have looked at the root cause of the mushrooming of substandard private secondary schools. For from what I know, the issue of having numerous ‘eyesore’ private secondary schools came about due to two factors, both of which cannot necessarily be blamed on the owners of schools.

Firstly, the problem lies with the licensing board. It now shows that the licensing board, perhaps overtaken by the environment of education liberalisation, could give every Jim and Jack a go-ahead to open the schools. The board, it now appears, never took into account factors such as location of the schools and teachers’ credentials seriously.

Secondly, the rising number of private secondary schools was a result of the high demand from pupils who have now realised that the only gateway to success is education. Thus, one would be compelled to open a school at whatever cost just to meet the pupils’ demand.

Of importance to note is that not all these ‘run-down’ private secondary schools were responsible for dwindling standards of education. Some, in fact, did the exact opposite. Yes, stories abound of the students who were at not-so-good private secondary schools performing wonders during the Malawi School Certificate of Education Examinations (MSCE).

Remember, these students did not choose to school at those particular substandard private secondary schools; it is poverty, conspiring with exorbitant fees in many private secondary schools, which sent them there. These are the types of the students who have found themselves at the receiving end with government’s decision to close poor private secondary schools.

Government, it is true, goofed big time by rushing with the decision to close substandard private schools. With pupils crying foul, the only sensible thing government should do is open the closed secondary schools. This is however not to say ministry of education should rescind its decision on having the private secondary schools in question improve on certain areas.

Really, every school in operation should have adequate school materials and infrastructure. But, for the time being, and for the sake of helpless pupils, let the closed school bounce back into operation as they work on the areas demanded by government.

Moreover, this should also act as a soul searching for government. Government should now realise that there is still need for more qualified teachers in our primary and secondary schools.

There is need to open more teachers training institutions. Only then will the abrupt closure of any substandard school look justifiable. As it is now, government has only succeeded in punishing the innocent pupils.