Teachers learn first-hand of the effects of poverty on education in Malawi

CHILDREN at two East Kilbride primaries can look forward to having close links with their counterparts at schools in far-off Africa following a visit there by two of their teachers.

Caroline Gibson, a teacher at Castlefield Primary School, in Greenhills, and Victoria Tyler, who teaches at St Leonard’s Primary School, spent two weeks during the summer taking part in an education study trip to Malawi organised by the League for Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers (LECT).

The pair spent the first couple of days in Lilongwe, the capital city, meeting with the Ministry of Education, union officials and Voluntary Service Overseas coordinators and volunteers, who were able to give them a good insight into the education system of the country and the challenges it faces.

Caroline and Victoria then travelled to Blantyre, which is the main city, and spent time in schools working with staff and pupils.

Pupils at Caroline’s and Victoria’s schools had written to the children in Malawi and had sent them large books of photographs and information about their schools and about Scotland.


Story continues Continue story
ADVERTISEMENT

This delighted the African youngsters, who Caroline and Victoria described as “very welcoming and excited about making friends with the children in East Kilbride and keen to respond to their letters”.

Victoria and Caroline explained that, while Malawi is known as ‘the warm heart of Africa’, it is one of the ten poorest countries in the world.

The average life expectancy is around 37 years and the population suffers from one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world, which has created around half a million AIDS orphans.

Malaria, cholera and diptheria are also common and particularly dangerous to infants.

The two East Kilbride teachers said that, at first, they found the poverty overwhelming.

They added: “But it was inspiring to see how motivated the teachers were and how much the children valued their education despite the difficult conditions.

“Classes had about 140 pupils in them. The children sat on the stone-cold floors, many windows were without glass and there were no resources for the teachers to use, apart from one chalkboard.

“There was limited space in the schools and children would often be taught outside. However, the weather was very cold, even for their winter, and they were forced to further double-up classes inside.

“The lack of glass and the cold floors meant that children were huddled up or used plastic bags to keep warm.

“Despite all of these problems, the lessons were delivered enthusiastically by the teachers and the children were motivated to learn. This was helped with singing and lots of praise.”

Caroline and Victoria said that another potential problem in schools was of children being too hungry to learn.

However, in the schools they visited, they found the problem is being tackled by a Scottish charity called Mary’s Meals, who organise and provide food for every child who attends the school.

The charity’s philosophy is that education is the way out of poverty and they are currently feeding 200,000 children a year — and hope to double this by next year.

Since returning to their own schools here, Caroline and Victoria have found that all of their colleagues and pupils have been keen to learn more about Malawi and global citizenship.

The schools now hope to build a link with Caroline’s and Victoria’s host schools in Malawi and remain friends with the children and teachers there.