Ethics, Peace and Justice Commission (EPJC), an arm of the Evangelical Association of Malawi has called for a review of the education curriculum to include subjects like Civics which are key in instilling good behaviour and patriotism in young people.
In a statement released by EPJC, the body has highlighted the need to rekindle the spirit of the patriotism and infuse a sense of umunthu and pride of being a Malawian in spite of the challenges currently being faced in the country.
“The Ministry of Education and Civic Education, as well and National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE Trust) must spearhead the development of this curriculum to be popularized by all, the faith community included,
It is as if we are heading towards self-destruction as a nation and we must quickly move to address this trend. It is the responsibility of everyone to make Malawi a better place for us all,” the statement reads in part.
The Statement condemned the growing tendency amongst some Malawians to raise one’s own tribal or ethnic grouping above the national agenda as this practice was divisive and undermines nation building as well as patriotism.
“All tribes and ethnicities in the country are guaranteed equality and benefits by the Constitutionof the land and other international instruments that Malawi is party to. No tribe has more rights than another and we are all equal before the law,
However, in the spirit of nation building, we call upon all political leaders to desist from inciting ethnic strife by playing tribes against each other.
EPJC called on traditional leaders to lead by example in championing the national agenda over tribal agendas and uploaded the Ministry of National Unity for considering that the country should hold a national cultural day where all ethnic and cultures are celebrated.
In a recent interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA), Director of Malawi Institute of Education (MIE), Fritz Kadyoma confirmed the need for a curriculum review which was last done in 2007 and re-instated in 2018 but was yet to be completed.
“The question of curriculum review is urgent because it feeds into the Malawi 2063 enabler number 5 that talks of human capital development,
We have however had a recent piece review in primary curriculum targeting English and Chichewa in standards 1 to 8,” he added.
Recently, Deputy Minister of Education, Monica Chang’anamuno said her Ministry was planning on not only reviewing the curriculum but redesigning it in order to change the mindset of students and improve opportunities.
“We aim at changing the mindset of students from attaining an education to be an employment seeker to someone wanting to be an employer and end unemployment,” she said.
