The Ministry of Education has
commended Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) Malawi for taking lead
in increasing number of role models for girls by training more female primary
school teachers in their Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs).
Mary Chirwa, Chief Education
Officer in the Department of Teacher Education and Development was speaking at
DAPP Dowa TTC during graduation of 83 primary school teacher students of which
46 graduating students were females.
“It is pleasing to note that
there are more female teachers who are graduating today.” She said, during
Thursday graduation and added “This is commendable because we are now talking
of gender equality.”
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| Mary Chirwa |
According to Chirwa, the country
has shortage of female primary school teachers as they only resent 40 percent of
primary school teachers national wide. She therefore said due to this worrisome
statistics, most rural primary schools have no female teacher and that a lot of
girls in such areas dropout of school because they do not see any role model who
can inspire them to continue with their education.
She then emphasised that there is
need to train more female primary school teachers in order to balance current
gender gap and has since expressed hope that the country will soon achieve this
goal as DAPP Malawi has taken step in right direction on this exercise.
“So, we are happy that DAPP is
taking part because these teachers will be role models in rural area primary
schools.” She said
Chirwa disclosed that Government
has taken serious steps to achieve balance in the representation of female and
male teachers in primary school education. She said one notable measure is
introduction of quota in the intake of students in public teacher training
colleges which is 50-50 selection.
However, she noted that this
policy is facing challenge particularly when selecting female candidates as
most of them fail to meet selection criteria set by these training
institutions. She said one cause to that problem is that most girls do not excel
in their studies as they rarely get exposed to role models who can motivate
them right from earliest stage of their education. But she expressed hope that
as more female primary school teachers are trained now, 50-50 selection in
public TTCs will be possible as more girls will excel in their studies and meet
entry requirements into colleges.
“If we have role models in the
primary schools, we will have more girls finishing primary school education and
go to secondary school and finish their studies with excellent results that
meet intake criteria for our teacher training colleges.” Said Chirwa
Turning to education offered in
DAPP TTCs, Chirwa said she is impressed with DAPP programmes and added that the
college is producing well qualified teachers.
“There is demand for qualified
and well trained teachers either in public or private schools. We really
appreciate your efforts in the education of teachers.” She said adding that graduates
from DAPP will help government meet required numbers of teachers needed in
primary schools.
Graduating student representative,
Spiwe Mwale said the three year training has enabled them to be self-starters
both inside and outside classroom.
“We are ready to work in all areas
of Malawi” she assured, adding “We have acquired knowledge.”
She continued; “We hope to make a
difference in teaching profession.” And said they have acquired necessary
leadership skills which can bring meaningful contribution to social economic
development of the country.
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| Kambewa |
Principal for DAPP Dowa TTC, Blessings
Kambewa explains that these graduating student teachers have been transformed
and are set to bring change in communities they are going to live in.
“Our philosophy when we are
training teachers is that we look at them as people who are so significant in
transforming our community, so, in their training we encompass community, we
train them how they can interact with communities around them.” He said adding
that “We also teach them to be responsible citizens in the way they manage
their life and resources.”
Kambewa also hinted that part of
the training included 4 months travel to some SADC countries to enable them appreciate
what is happening in other countries so that they can relate such experiences
to Malawi.
“[This travel] also help them to
be courageous enough because traveling for 4 months they encountered a lot of challenges
which required their resilience and courage. We hope that it will go into their
profession, they will be courageous enough to come up with solutions affecting
their lives and their teaching profession.” He added
The graduation of 83 teacher
students at Dowa TTC on Thursday, brings total number of students graduating
from the school to 490 since its opening in 2010 and this figure according to Iben
Pedersen, DAPP Education sector leader means DAPP Malawi has now trained over
2000 teachers through its four primary school teacher training colleges namely;
Amalika in Thyolo district, Chilangoma in Blantyre, Dowa and Mzimba.
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