Education System in Malawi, Africa

Like Kenya, the country of Malawi also has a similar education system to the United States. Their education system consists of 3 levels which are primary, secondary and tertiary education.

The Primary level is an 8 year cycle that starts at Standard 1 and ends at Standard 8. The entry age for the primary level is age 6 but due to late and multiple entries and repeated grades can range from age 4 in standard 1 to age 18 in standard 8. These standards are separated into three sections:

Infant Section - Standards 1-2
Junior Section - Standards 3-5
Senior Section - Standards 6-8

The Secondary education level is a 4 year cycle that consists of a Junior level cycle (Form 1 and Form 2) and a Senior level cycle (Form 3 and Form 4). After each cycle students must pass National examinations in order to continue to the next cycle. There are three categories of institutions which are: Conventional Secondary Schools, Community Day Secondary Schools and Private Schools. Students who enter the Community Day Secondary Schools and Private Schools are normally those who have not been selected to enter Conventional Secondary Schools by the Government based on the results of students Primary School Leaving Certificate Examinations.

The Tertiary education level is a 4 year cycle which consists of universities, technical and vocational schools and teacher education. The amount of time it takes to complete the Tertiary level depends on the courses being studied and can range from 1 to 5 years.

The Ministry of Education has administrative, financial and academic control over primary, secondary, tertiary (including the university), distance education as well as the training of primary school teachers. The system of education is organised in four tiers. At the top of the national structure is the minister of education. While the Ministry of Education plans and administers the system as a whole, the responsibility of managing and administering the three levels above is assigned to one Principal Secretary who is assisted by heads of departments. The second tier is the division administration. Under the recent efforts to decentralize education services, the previous three regions were split into six and renamed divisions each headed by a division manager.
The Malawi National Examination Board, which oversees examinations and the Malawi Institute of Education, which has in recent years played a leading role in curriculum and material development and in-service teacher education.

Under the United Democratic Front, the new democratic government introduced Free Primary Education in the 1994-1995 academic year, partly in response to the Jomtien conference on Education for All which was held in Thailand in 1990 but also in fulfillment of one of the promises the new government had made to its electorate. This also formed part of a national policy of Poverty Alleviation by the new government. The new government had realized that reducing poverty was not possible without sustained economic growth and that economic growth would not happen without investing in education.


Literacy rates for men between ages 15-24 - 84%
Literacy rates for women between ages 15-24 - 82%

Primary school enrollment rate for men - 84%
Primary school enrollment rate for women - 90%
Primary school attendance rate for men - 86%
Primary school attendance rate for women - 87%
Completion rate of primary school - 71%

Secondary school enrollment rate for men - 25%
Secondary school enrollment rate for women - 23%
Secondary school attendance rate for men - 13%
Secondary school attendance rate for women - 13%

Source: http://www.sacmeq.org/education-malawi.htm

Source: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi_statistics.html

Posted by Mark Albers