At least 53 pupils who dropped out of school for various reasons in Machinga have been re-admitted to primary schools, thanks to the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) funded Mother Groups project in Mangochi Diocese.
The initiative of bringing back pupils back to schools has been championed by the mother groups that were formed through the project at Kaombe, Mikachu, Napere, St John, Namandanje and Masanje primary schools in the area of Traditional Authority Liwonde in the district.
Narrating her story, Flossy Beston, aged 15, one of the pupils who dropped out of school at the age of 12 after she became pregnant, said that she is happy to be re-admitted to school after three years at home.
“It has always been my dream to become a qualified nurse when I finish my studies. However, this dream met a threat at a certain point in my life when I became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl,” she said.
She added, “From the time I became pregnant, things had not been well for me. I suffered a lot inwardly, thank God all my parents are alive and they have been supporting me financially and materially.
Maganga said that through the Mother Group’s interventions, the school enrollment rate is fast growing as more drop out pupils are coming back to school.
“For instance, during the baseline survey of this project, we only had 1325 pupils. Since the project rolled out its activities some two years ago, the enrollment rate has improved so much that now have about 1643 pupils. The figure is likely going to go up because learners are still re-enrolling – all this is because of the initiatives by the Mother Groups,” she said.
Chair lady for Kaombe Mother Group, Alinafe Mitomoni said that her ten-member group is proud of the successes registered through their interventions and appealed to parents, teachers and all other stakeholder to be cooperative and to assist them achieve their goal of promoting girl education in the area.
The Education Secretary for Education Commission in Mangochi Diocese, Mr. Cyprian Tambala said the project has managed to register a number of success stories within the two years that they have been implementing the project in Machinga.
He also said that the project has identified other gaps and has so far strived to address then hence increased access to instructional and reading materials to children in the targeted schools, improved governance and management system of the schools and improved learning infrastructure.
“For example, the project has managed to train community key stakeholders in lobbying skills for funds mobilization, and to facilitate linkages between community key stakeholders like the Area Development Committees and the District Education Manager, in order to access Local Development Funds at Council level, “he said.
Meanwhile, the District Education Manager for Machinga, Mr. Enock Chumachao and the Education Policy Coordinator at the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, Steven Ndhlovu have also commended Mangochi Diocese through its education commission for the smooth implementation of the project.
CRS Programs Manager for Education, Monica Chiwalo pledged continued support to the project in the next financial year, which starts in November 2014.