MALAWI: Pre-school Education A Luxury

LILONGWE, Sep 28 (IPS) - Less than a third of Malawi's children attend pre-school; the others will lag behind their peers for their entire school careers.

For most Malawian children, school only starts at the age of six - or sometimes even later - when they enter primary school. Pre-schools are mainly privately-owned and regarded as a luxury since most families cannot afford to pay the fees.

In Malawi, up to 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $1 a day, according to United Nations statistics, while pre-school fees, for the few Malawians who earn a good income, range from $50 to $800 per term.

Not attending a pre-school means that most of the country’s children miss out on early learning and stimulation, according to the country’s secretary for gender, children and community development, Olive Chikankheni.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that early childhood development is critical for the formation of intelligence, personality and social behavior. The effects of neglect in these formative years can be cumulative and lasting.

"Most nursery schools are in urban areas and demand very high school fees, which most people cannot afford," confirmed Chikankheni. About 60 percent of Malawi's population live in the country’s rural areas, however, where poverty is rife.

Chikankheni says children who do not attend pre-school find it difficult to socialise with their peers and teachers when they start primary school. "These children take long to adapt to the school environment because they find that they are suddenly surrounded by strangers. As such, they fail to concentrate on their studies," said Chikankheni.

She says such children lag behind in their studies, and some perform below their potential throughout their school-life. 2008 government statistics indicate that not even a third of Malawi's children have access to pre-school education.

Limited access to pre-school is apparent even in urban areas, and within the country’s capital Lilongwe. Small children are seen playing unattended in township and suburb streets during the day instead of being in school. Many families rather spend the little money they have on food and other basic necessities, than on nursery school fees.

Janet Galula, who lives in servants' quarters in Area 3, a suburb of Lilongwe, is a single mother of four children aged between two and eleven years. None of them has had the opportunity to attend pre-school.

Galula, who works as a domestic worker, lives only a stone-throw away from one of the most prestigious pre-schools in the capital - but she cannot afford the fees. This nursery school charges between 650 and 800 U.S. dollars per term.

"I earn only a fraction of those school fees. Nursery schools are something that I can’t even consider for my children. They are out of my reach," said Galula.

She envies her cousin, Mumderanji Kaduya, who is lucky enough to send her children to a pre-school free of charge. Kaduya works as a cleaner at a nursery school, and her children are hence allowed to attend without paying fees.

"You can easily tell the difference between my children and that of my cousin. Mumderanji’s children are very intelligent," said Galula.

Galula’s nine-year-old son is in standard two in primary school together with Mumderanji’s seven-year-old daughter, but she says her niece is doing much better than her son. "I know this is mostly because my niece went through nursery school. She was well-prepared for primary school, and my child missed that preparation," worried Galula.

The answer to Galula's problem could lie in Community-Based Childcare Centres (CBCCs), believes George Jobe, communications director of the Creative Centre for Community Mobilisation (CRECCOM), a Malawian civil society organisation advocating for improved education standards.

CBCCs are rural, community-owned pre-schools, run by volunteers. All learning materials are produced locally to save costs. In addition, community members pool their resources together to provide pre-school children with a warm meal each day. Almost half of Malawi’s 5.9 million children under the age five of are malnourished, according to the United Nations.

Jobe says CBCCs address the needs of the average Malawian family, which is not able to spend money on pre-school education. "At a CBCC, children as young as two have the chance to access pre-school activities that prepare them for primary school," he explained.

CRECCOM is advocating for the introduction of CBCCs in all parts of the country. "Although we have CBCCs in almost every district in the country, they don't cover every village. We need more of them if we want to ensure that pre-school is accessible to all children," said Jobe.