GOVERNMENT’S DIRECTIVE TO CLOSE EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS LACKS CLARITY: RECIPE FOR THE DOWNTURN IN THE SECTOR
The Education Hub With Benedicto Kondowe
In times of crisis, a nation looks upon its leaders for clear, sound and practical guidance on the way forward. As Malawi has resorted to the unprecedented measure of closing down schools and other education institutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring the continuity of the education process is an imperative.
In the national address delivered by President Chakwera last Sunday, 10th January 2021, he stated that his administration had come to the rather unfounded decision to close schools abruptly and immediately- a decision that was made without consultation or any known assessment. Such a move could prove disastrous in the long run.
In the face of the current predicament of things, it is inevitable that a lot of tough calls have to be made. Admittedly, government is placed between a rock and a hard place. However, good leadership is supposed to thrive under these situations instead of succumbing to mere pressure, and in the process, offering half-baked and erratic solutions.
The right to education is real and undiminished also in times of emergency, even if the ways in which this right is ensured may require adaptation. As it stands now, the closure of education institutions has been cast in serious quandary. Firstly, government has failed to expound on what it plans to do during the school closure and what exactly it is hopes to achieve. It has even failed to explain the basis of the announced three weeks.
All plausible reasons for this exercise fall short of a reasoned analysis, and have not considered a myriad of dynamics. If it is indeed to fumigate the schools or to interrupt the transmission of the corona virus, what safeguards are being put in place to make sure that the students are safe in their communities. As for the boarders who will remain in schools, government has not provided clarity on the feasibility of screening in all boarding schools across the country. In addition, no mechanisms have been clarified as how the students and teachers will be protected during this time, including whether boarders will be learning.
In the same breadth, safeguards directed towards day scholars who will continue to commute between the schools and their homes during the MSCE examinations are mute. If the closure is an attempt to avoid transmission of the disease to the communities then, there is need for better mechanism and support provided to the day scholars to avoid transmission of the disease from the school to the communities and the vice versa.
In the case of Lilongwe Girls Secondary School, we commend government’s effort to contain the situation by dedicating a hostel as an isolation centre. We, at the EduHub, believe that the decision was strategic as well as being cost-effective. Managing students who have tested positive within their campuses is key to better containing the pandemic as well as for regular monitoring of the situation. However, there is need for better safeguards to protect those who might have tested negative. Most importantly, there is need for proper communication arrangement between parents or guardians and the schools where in-school isolation is enforced.
We also sadly note that lack of proper consultations between government and other education service providers leading to failure to comply with the directive. For example, since yesterday, some schools have been sending out the boarders to their respective homes. This has mostly arisen due to lack of clarity as what is expected to happen during these three weeks as well as lack of information on the anticipated schedule for screening. We are highlighting these issues in the spirit of common duty so that we avoid mistakes that were made during the first wave of Covid-19.
As we have said time and again, the duty to save lives is an onerous one. However, even during emergencies, the State owes the citizen the obligation to promote, protect and fulfill the right to education. Keeping children out of school has shown to have pervasive consequences especially to girls. Girls are at greater risk of teenage pregnancy and sexual and gender-based violence if they stay out of school. In 2020, the Malawi government-led COVID-19 rapid assessment on teenage pregnancies and child marriages showed an 11% increase in teenage pregnancies in the period of March to July 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. At the same time, staying out of school increases other vulnerabilities such forced child labor and violence against children.
We believe that government as the responsibility to ensure that education financing is ring-fenced, as the pandemic stretches priorities, and is used to strengthen the education system and ensure continued learning. This would only be attainable if decisions are guided by data/evidence, and borne out of consultations. Guiding principles and policy framework on how to keep schools safely open and keep children in school during the COVID 19 pandemic with as minimum as possible loss of life should be quickly thought through and put in place. While access to education is in itself important, the true value of this right can only be realized if education is equitable, inclusive and of adequate quality.
