Quantity Versus Quality in Education: Case Studies in Malawi

Abstract

Free primary education was introduced to Malawi in 1994, and it led to an increase in enrolment of one million pupils. The present contribution gathers case studies of 10 schools which sought information on the general conditions of communities and schools as well as on enrolment, resources, staffing, absenteeism etc. The results highlight the difficulties of implementing Education for All (EFA). Generally speaking, schools have been poorly supplied by the state. Effectively, many pupils have been marshaled into schools not properly equipped in terms of material and human resources. As a result, EFA in Malawi has been undermined by a persistently large number of pupils who drop out before attaining permanent literacy. Yet providing quality education is more than just a question of resources. From the points of view of parents and pupils, quality education requires relevance to local needs; adaptability to local conditions; and flexibility in addressing cultural obstacles. Overall, as is shown here, it appears that increased access to schooling has been achieved at the expense of the quality of education offered. Zusammenfassung -QUANTITÄ T IM UNTERSCHIED ZU QUALITÄ T IN DER ERZIEHUNG: FALLSTUDIEN IN MALAWI -Die kostenlose Grundschulbildung wurde im Jahre 1994 in Malawi eingefu¨hrt und hatte den Zuwachs in der Schu¨lerzahl von einer Million Schu¨ler zur Folge. Der vorliegende Beitrag versammelt Fallstudien von zehn Schulen, in welchen Informationen u¨ber die allgemeinen Bedingungen der Gemeinden und Schulen ebenso wie u¨ber die Schu¨lerzahl, Ausstattung, Personalversorgung, Fernbleiben vom Unterricht usw. erfragt wurden. Die Ergebnisse betonen die Schwierigkeit, Bildung fu¨r alle (Education for All / EFA) zu verwirklichen. Allgemein gesprochen wurden die Schulen vom Staat schlecht ausgestattet. Letztendlich wurden viele Schu¨ler an Schulen geleitet, die nicht u¨ber ein ausreichendes Maß an materieller sowie personeller Ausstattung verfu¨gten. Als ein Ergebnis wurde die Bildung fu¨r alle (EFA) in Malawi durch eine anhaltend hohe Anzahl von Schu¨lern untergraben, welche die Schule verlassen, bevor sie dauerhafte Lese-und Schreibfa¨-higkeit erlangt haben. Dennoch ist die Versorgung mit gehaltvoller Bildung mehr als lediglich eine Frage der Ausstattung. Aus den Perspektiven von Eltern und Schu¨lern erfordert diese Bildung einen Bezug auf o¨rtliche Bedu¨rfnisse, Anpassungsfa¨higkeit an o¨rtliche Bedingungen und Flexibilita¨t im Ansprechen kultureller Hindernisse. Insgesamt scheint es, wie hier gezeigt wird, dass der angestiegene Zugang zur Schulbildung auf Kosten der Qualita¨t der angebotenen Bildung erreicht worden ist.Re´sume´-QUANTITÉ CONTRE QUALITÉ DANS L'É DUCATION : É TUDES DE CAS AU MALAWI -L'e´ducation primaire gratuite fut introduite au Malawi en 1994 et conduisit a`une augmentation de l'immatriculation d'un million d'e´le`ves. La contribution pre´sente rassemble les e´tudes de cas de 10 e´coles qui recherche`rent des informations sur les conditions ge´ne´rales des communaute´s et des e´coles aussi bien que su...

Teachers’ perceptions of the quality of the new Expressive Arts textbooks for Malawi primary schools

“…Luykx (1999) found that Bolivia, a developed country, also faced serious shortages of instructional materials similar to the findings of this study that there are serious shortages of instructional materials in Malawi. Again, as in this study, Chimombo's (2005), Nsapato's (2005), Lowe's (2008) and Kadzamira's (2006) also found that Malawi has the lowest percentage of the availability of textbooks for both teachers and pupils in the sub-Saharan region and that the primary school system in Malawi lacks teaching and learning materials, especially in the rural primary schools, which affect the successful implementation of the primary school curriculum.…”

“…It is not clear how this will be resolved. Studies by Chimombo (2005) and Nsapato (2005) show that primary schools in Malawi face serious shortage of instructional materials that affect the effective implementation of the school curricula. These authors argue that Malawi has the lowest percentage of the availability of textbooks for both teachers and pupils in the sub-Saharan region.…”

Modelling the impact of women’s education on fertility in Malawi

“…In contrast, the probability of a student's dropping out is higher when the student comes from a larger household or a Muslim household. Other factors that affect the drop-out rate are household poverty, delays in enrolment, the cost of schooling, a lack of interest in education, and early marriage (e.g., Kadzamira and Rose, 2003;Chimombo, 2005;Manda and Meyer, 2005;Moyi, 2010). The poor quality of education is another weakness of Malawi's education system.…”

“…The poor quality of education is another weakness of Malawi's education system. Chimombo (2005) highlighted a series of factors that can compromise the quality of education, including the scarcity of equipment required for effective teaching (e.g., textbooks, desks), poor condition of many schools, and low teacher-student ratio (this ratio ranged from 1:142 in the Salima school district to 1:53 in the Lilongwe school district). It is important to note that the goal of universal primary education cannot be attained without ensuring school quality because increasing the number of people who complete primary education does not ensure they have the relevant knowledge and skills to make important contributions to the development of the country (Chimombo, 2005).…”

Education and Poverty Linkage in Malawi: A District Level Analysis

“…The introduction of free primary education in1994 in Malawi was on the basis that poor people are being left out of school, and that with free access to primary education, it would open a way for them to acquire some education and probably offer a way of escape out of poverty (Chimombo, 2005). There are also other studied like (Psacharopoulos G. , 1994) that found that there are returns that are associated with basic education.…”