Dec
03
2020

Education Forum with Malawi Minister for Education

We are excited to invite SMP Members and their Malawi partners to our next Education Forum meeting which will welcome, listen to and have dialogue with the Government of Malawi's new Minister for Education, Hon. Agnes Nyalonje.

We were excited to invite SMP Members and their Malawi partners to our Education Forum meeting which welcomed, listened to and had dialogue with the Government of Malawi’s new Minister for Education, Hon. Agnes Nyalonje. Watch a recording of the meeting at the bottom of this page or on YouTube here.

Read Minister Nyalonje's full speech here.

The meeting was held on the 3rd of December 2020 and explored the scale, reach and impact of Scotland-Malawi education partnerships and explored new opportunities and potential future collaborations.

Minister Nyalonje is a longstanding friend of the Malawi-Scotland relationship and has lived and worked in Scotland. This Zoom meeting provided an opportunity to learn about the challenges and opportunities as Minister Nyalonje sees them and to give a flavour of the many educational partnerships in the bilateral relationship across:

  • Further and Higher Education partnerships
  • Development projects supporting primary and secondary education
  • Two-way school partnerships

We were delighted that Malawi’s new Education Minister and long-standing friend of Scotland, Hon. Agnes Nyalonje set out her vision and priorities so clearly, articulated in 8 immediate and medium-term reforms. We are happy to be able to share these again here and to reiterate the SMP’s commitment to do whatever is within its power to support the Minister’s aims.

Minister Nyalonje’s immediate and medium-term focus for reform:

i.Promote evidence-informed policy and data-driven decision making, based on a detailed analysis of our education system at the levels of the individual schools, education districts and divisions, and the country as a whole. This will allow us collectively, by ourselves and with our development partners, better plan the type of investment required, and how much and where it should be allocated

ii.Strengthen school and teacher training college governance and management through establishment of local boards and formal school management committees that will enhance accountability, transparency, and local ownership of the education institutions.

iii.Enhance teacher welfare and development; and professionalize the teaching workforce. This will include setting up a Teachers’ Council and setting Diploma-level as a minimum qualification for teachers.

iv.Establish the Malawi Qualifications Authority so that the country can develop a National Qualifications Framework. This will bring credibility to the quality of national and international qualifications provided through our education institutions and will bridge Academic and TEVET teaching and learning.

v.Review and revise the selection policies for secondary schools and universities to make sure that they are equitable and based on performance and merit.

vi.Develop and introduce a policy on an essential school infrastructure package. This will provide a holistic approach to school construction and rehabilitation and lead to a more efficient and cost-effective approach to renovating and constructing schools.

vii.Improve the efficiency of the Ministry itself, through strengthening several directorates, notably the Directorate of Inspectorate and Advisory Services and the Directorate of Inclusive Education; and establishing two new directorates, the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation, and the Directorate on Open Distance and e-Learning).

viii.Develop a concerted, strategic and professional approach to ‘communication for transformation’ so that we can better inform Malawians and educational professional about what is happening and why, and better enable a dialogue within Malawi about how we should best develop our education system

Read Minister Nyalonje's speech in full by clicking here.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Yonah Matemba of the University of the West of Scotland and Chair of the SMP's Further & Higher Education Forum.

Hon Nya Lonje resized

Education Forum with Malawi Minister for Education, Hon. Agnes Nyalonje.

Click to watch.