![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/megan.jpg\" "\\"megan\\"")
Shawn Reagan<\/p><\/div>So, as I’ve been invited to serve in Malawi as a teacher, I figured you guys would want to know what exactly that meant. I wonder the SAME thing! As it turns out, education in Malawi is complex, but based on the research I’ve done for my paper for class, I think I’ve got a fairly good idea.<\/p>\n
Education is divided into two groups in Malawi: primary and secondary. Much as it is here, primary is considered the first 8 grade, and secondary is what we would call a high school, though the system it works in is vastly different. Secondary schools come in four types:
\n1. government schools
\n2. grant aided schools
\n3. community day secondary schools (referred to as CDSS)
\n4. private schools.<\/p>\n
The government schools enroll based upon tests that students take in their 8th grade year – the top tier of scores earns you an enrollment to the national school, the second tier allows you to enroll in a district school, and the third tier of scores means that you’ll probably be studying in a community day secondary school. Now, primary school has been free since 1994 (when the government became a multi-party democracy), but secondary school is not. You pretty much pay no matter where you go, and though the government has been increasing funding, it cannot afford to open a school everywhere like we can in America. A CDSS is a school that is opened with some assistance from the gov’t, but is operated by the community and fees paid by students and their families pay for the school’s operating costs.<\/p>\n
I’ll be at a CDSS, which primarily operate in rural areas. (Interesting note: a paper I’m reading now currently divides areas into “rural” and “less rural,” as “urban” can only really describe Lilongwe, the capital and largest city. So rural really means RURAL.) I can expect to work in a school that does not have electricity, running water, or a telephone. My students will probably be mixed in terms of age, but boys will outnumber girls by some margin. Gender equity is a priority for Malawian education, and while the earlier grades (specifically 1-6) have achieved parity in enrollment, test scores for boys are still higher than the girls’, and after 7th grade enrollments for boys outnumber that of girls. I can expect to have a student-teacher ratio of around 75:1, and possibly 25-30 lessons per week. So… I have my work cut out for me, to say the least. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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