FREE EDUCATION BUILT ON SHAKY GROUND

FREE EDUCATION BUILT ON SHAKY GROUND

BY ADRIAN SIMANGO

(OPINION STORY)

Malawi is making a big change by offering free education to community day school students. This sounds like a good idea to help everyone get an education.

 However, there is a problem that many children in Malawi are not learning much in school right now. According to budget 24/25 brief written by UNICEF Malawi   found that Only 19 out of 100 children aged 7 to 14 can read well, and only 13 out of 100 can do basic math. This means that even if children go to school, they might not be learning what they need to. So, the big question is, will free education truly make things better, or will it just add more problems?

Linga community students: looking surprise for the change in
syllabus| curtesy UNICEF

Just like with taxes, simply giving free education to everyone in the same way won't work perfectly. Malawi's schools are very different from each other. Some have more supplies, better buildings, and enough teachers, while others don't. If the new free education plan doesn't consider these differences, it might not help everyone equally.

One major issue is that not many young children go to early childhood education (ECE) UNICEF found that only 34 out of 100 in 2023. This means many children start primary school already behind, which makes it harder for them to learn later on, even if school is free. Also, the money given to education is shrinking. From 2020 to 2025, the part of the government's budget for education dropped from 17% to 14.8%. This happened because the government has to pay back more and more loans. Less money for education could make it hard to keep free education working well and providing good quality learning.

Primary students: many children start primary school already behind
| Curtesy of UNICEF
Looking at how the education budget is spent shows more potential problems. Even though education gets the most money from the government, how that money is shared between different levels of schooling has changed. More money is going to universities (from 24% to 28%), while less is going to basic primary education (from 51% to 49%) and secondary school (from 18% to 15%). The money for early childhood development (ECD) has stayed the same at 2.4%. This shift is worrying because if less money goes to the youngest students, it could harm their learning foundation, especially if more students join primary school because it's free.

Another big challenge is that many classes are too large. On average, there are 61 students for every qualified teacher in primary schools. In rural areas, it's even worse, with 66 students per teacher, compared to 43 in cities. If more students come to school because it's free, these class sizes could get even bigger, meaning teachers won't be able to give enough attention to each student. Also, many primary schools don't have enough classrooms. About 66% of lower primary schools have more than 90 students for every permanent classroom, which is a huge problem that could get worse with more students.

Despite government putting more effort the 2024/25 budget includes significant investments worth MK209 billion in constructing primary and secondary schools, 86 per cent of which are from donors. However, previous budget analyses show budget credibility challenges associated with development projects in the education sector.

For free education to truly help Malawi's education system, these steps are very important; Invest More in Early Years. The government should put more money into early childhood education and the first few years of primary school to build a strong learning base for children.

 The other step is to Steady Money for Education. The government's finance department needs to make sure education always gets at least 15% of the total budget. This money should be given out on time and protected from cuts during the year.

The Ministry of Education is encouraged to strengthen the planning and execution of development projects, including procurement systems and capacities, to ensure timely construction of schools and overall completion of planned projects. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Committees, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and Local Communities are encouraged to continue overseeing to strengthen accountability in implementing development the projects.

  

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