Currently, only nine percent of students who complete primary school in Malawi go on to complete secondary school. This trend is especially prevalent in economically poorer rural communities where parents lack the resources to send their children far from home to conventional secondary schools where they would have to pay to board them. In 1998, the government of Malawi established the Community Day Secondary School model to broaden access to secondary school education for primary school graduates and eliminate the financial barriers that came with the boarding schools.
Mbongozi Secondary School is located in the northeast corner of the Kasungu District, where there were previously only 2 secondary schools serving 28 communities. This meant that the majority of children graduating primary schools in the region were not able to attend secondary schools.
“This school is very important to us,
the people of Mbongozi community, as
well as the surrounding villages, because
our children used to walk long distances
just to attend secondary school. So we
parents are very very happy because
of the development that has happened
here.”
In addition to new classrooms, the school features staff housing, a library, private washrooms, a science lab, and solar electricity.
Our long-time partner, Formidable Joy, installed a state of the art solar water system that provides running water for the school, teacher’s houses, the surrounding village, sinks in the bathrooms, a hand-washing station, and even a shower for older girls.
“This new school will help me to reach my
dreams because it has modern facilities. We
have a laboratory, a library, desks, electricity
and potable water. These things will help
learning to be much easier.”
We are grateful to our coalition of partners, buildOn, Raising Malawi, Stanley Eisenberg, and the Al O’Connor and Anne Studabaker Foundation to making this school a reality.
June 23, 2022
Add IMPACT to your inbox
Connect with us today and help us empower kids to change the world
