By Lusako Ng’ambi:
As one way of promoting education in malawi, Girls Activists Youth Organization (GAYO) with funding from World Vision Malawi conducted role modelling sessions for four primary schools in Mchinji district.
The pupils were drawn from Rusa, Chafuta, Chankhanga and Kalulu primary schools.
Gayo Field Officer Karen Seyani said the main goal of the project is to improve the well-being and quality of life in Rusa communities through holistic transformation of the communities.
Seyani said the organization thought it wise to engage the learners in modelling sessions because there is an increase of child marriages and child labor in the areas hence a need to motivate the learners to stay in schools by bringing in people working with different organizations and in government to share their stories and inspire the learners.
Speaking on behalf of the District Education Manager, Mchinji district Sports Officer, Henry chonde applauded GAYO for the good initiative.
Chonde said government is very committed to promote education in coupled with the intoruduction of various school management committees.
He said the introduction of auxiliary teachers has helped in addressing the shortage of teachers in various schools especially in rural areas while the set up of various committees has brought parents closer to school management.
Chonde also said some learners who dropped out of school for various reasons, are now back after the introduction of re-adimision policy.
“These activities are important because when these students are inspired, chances are that we will have high passing rates in the district which at the end, will result into high enrollment rate as well,” he said
District Social Welfare Officer for Mchinji, Joyce Malika said the modelling sessions are very helpful because they help children to work hard in class.
“We don’t want these children to drop out of school because of early pregnancies and child labour, we want them to continue with their education,” said Malika.
