MALAWI: National Coordinator for Education Commission at ECM Decries Underperformance of Catholic Run Schools This Year
Br. Pascal Mtuwana, FIC
Sam Kalimba
The National Coordinator for Education Commission at the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) has bemoaned the performance of Catholic run schools during the 2022 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) results released on 2 December by the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB).
Br. Pascal Mtuwana, in an interview, said that while the general picture in Malawi is that Catholic schools have done well, the schools that are managed directly by the Commission are very few on the list of top ten as well as top 20 schools.
“There are three categories of Catholic schools based on administration,” Bro Mtuwana a member of the Congregation of the Friars of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (FIC) disclosed and expounded: “In category one we have Diocesan administered schools in which we have seminaries. In category two there are what we now call government assisted schools most of which are regional and national schools. The third and last category is that of Catholic private schools.”
“Our Commission’s mandate is over the government assisted schools only. So, when we talk of performance of Catholic schools in respect to this interview, we will focus on government assisted schools. Teachers’ remuneration in these schools are supported by the Government of Malawi with while the Church provides ownership and administrative role. Compared to 2021, these schools have not done well in this year’s MSCE results,” he added.
The 2022 MSCE results released by the Malawi National Examination Board’s MANEB on 2 December gives a picture that out of 147,977 candidates who sat for the 2022 MSCE examinations, 86,477 passed, representing a 58.44% pass rate.
According to Br. Mtuwana, of the top ten schools only five are Catholics Schools of which only two are in the category that the Catholic Education Commission oversees.
“This is the reason the Commission is not happy with the results. We already invited head teachers of our schools to a round table meeting to map out the way forward. We have agreed on a number of strategies drawn from the master education policy of the Conference and we hope for the better in the next MSCE and Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) results,” he narrated.
Br. Pascal Mtuwana, however, commended the schools which performed well in the just released results stressing the need of taking the performance rate at the JCE examinations to the MSCE examinations next year.
The Catholic Church in Malawi started receiving support from government in 1926. Apart from running secondary schools, the Church in the country runs kindergarten and primary schools and has one Catholic University situated in the Archdiocese of Blantyre with a satellite centre in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe.
Br. Mtuwana calls upon all school’s management under the Catholic Education Commission to emulate the style of Catholic Seminaries in providing education that is holistic aimed at producing a complete citizen with par excellence standards in academics, spiritual and social life.
He has since encouraged Head Teachers of these schools to start arranging and taking orientation visits to such schools that are doing extremely well in these areas for improvement in their respective schools.
