US embassy cable - 04LILONGWE775

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LILONGWE 000775 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI, EAID, MI, Education, Development 
SUBJECT: MALAWI EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM WORSE OFF THAN 
BEFORE FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION 
 
REF: LILONGWE 706 
 
1. SUMMARY. According to the recently released "Free 
Primary Education For All" report, dropout rates, 
repetition rates, and qualified teacher-to-pupil 
ratios in public primary schools have all worsened 
over the past ten years.  At the same time, overall 
enrollment and government expenditures on public 
education increased.  Recent attempts by the 
Government of Malawi (GOM) to increase the number of 
qualified teachers demonstrate that the GOM 
recognizes that the quality of public education was 
compromised at the expense of quantity when Free 
Primary Education (FPE) was introduced in 1994.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Free Primary Education: 10 YEARS ON 
----------------------------------- 
2. Analyzing free primary education since its 
introduction ten years ago, the recently released 
"Free Primary Education For All" report, published by 
the Centre for Educational Research and Training at 
the University of Malawi, asserts that quality was 
compromised for quantity in an attempt to quickly 
implement Free Primary Education.  In its analysis of 
the education system the report looks at the 
relationship between public education spending and 
education outcomes in primary schools.  Primary 
school in Malawi, is supposed to begin at age six and 
last eight years. 
 
3. On education expenditure, the report notes that 
over the past ten years the GOM has increased its 
education budget every year, but the budget increases 
have not been proportional to the increasing student 
enrollment. Most of the money in the education budget 
goes for teachers' salaries, leaving little money for 
expansion and maintenance of school facilities. 
 
4. Dropout rates have also dramatically increased. 
The report notes that over seventy percent of 
children who entered primary school between 1990-2000 
dropped out before finishing, with most citing the 
costs of school uniforms and supplies as the most 
common reasons.  The largest percentage of dropouts 
occurred the year free primary school was introduced, 
and the rate has marginally improved each year since. 
However, a higher percentage of students still drop 
out than before free primary education. 
 
5. In addition to high dropout rates, the majority of 
primary students have repeated at least one grade, 
which represents a twenty percent increase from the 
repetition rates prior to the introduction of FPE. 
The percentage of unqualified (untrained) teachers 
also rose from twenty percent prior to FPE to fifty 
percent four years later, and the number of pupils 
per English and Math textbook doubled because of the 
enrollment increases following the introduction of 
FPE. 
 
6. Officials, including the current Minister of 
Education, acknowledge that more planning should have 
gone into the introduction of FPE in 1994.  However, 
the education system's largest obstacle is budgetary 
constraints.  Last year, the Ministry requested MK 13 
billion ($130 million), and Parliament approved a 
budget of MK 6 billion ($60 million).  However, the 
amount actually received by the Ministry was less 
than MK 6 billion.  Of the Ministry's received 
funding, MK 4 billion ($40 million) went to pay 
teachers' salaries.  The budget shortfalls have been 
left to members of the donor community to cover.  In 
1998 alone, donors provided almost ninty-five percent 
of the money spent on school facilities improvement 
and teacher training. 
 
7. According to the report, the introduction of free 
primary education in Malawi has not produced a system 
of universal primary education.  Even before 
factoring in dropout and grade repetition rates, only 
eighty percent of children enroll in school. 
Education in Malawi is not compulsory at any age. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF FPE 
------------------- 
8. Both of the major parties in the 1994 elections, 
the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the United 
Democratic Front (UDF), promised free primary 
education.  The MCP stated that they would continue 
to gradually implement FPE, while the UDF did not 
publicly comment on their plan for FPE.  When the UDF 
won the presidential elections in May 1994, the 
President announced that primary schools would be 
free at the start of school in September. Prior to 
the implementation of FPS, the GOM did not undertake 
a study of the current educational system to see 
where improvements were needed. 
 
9. 3.2 million children signed up to attend school in 
September 1994, an enrollment increase of 70% from 
the previous year.  The GOM allowed any child to 
enroll in any grade, resulting in many overaged 
children attending school. There was a particularly 
large increase in Standard 8 (the last grade in 
primary school) enrollment, which suggested many 
children who had dropped out re-enrolled when school 
was free in the hopes of attending secondary school. 
To handle the increased number of students, the GOM 
hired 22,000 new teachers, 20,000 of whom were 
unqualified.  These teachers were given a two-week 
training course prior to being sent into the field. 
 
PRIOR TO FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION 
------------------------------- 
10. Prior to the introduction of FPE in Malawi, the 
school system had been funded primarily through 
student fees.  The enrollment figures of Malawian 
primary schools have been steadily increasing since 
Malawi gained its independence in 1964. Starting in 
the 1991-1992 school year, the GOM, along with help 
from the World Bank, began to introduce fee waivers 
for children in the first four years of primary 
school, as a way to entice parents to send their 
children to school.  The year that fee waivers were 
introduced there was a 40% increase in enrollment in 
the first grade of primary school, meaning that many 
parents were encouraged to enroll their children in 
school when the cost was drastically reduced or 
eliminated. 
 
11. The GOM along with USAID introduced the Girls' 
Attainment in Basic Literacy and Education (GABLE) 
program in 1991-1992.  This program provided school 
fee waivers for non-repeating primary school girls in 
most primary school grades.  This program led to a 
twelve percent increase in primary school enrollment 
for girls. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
12. The decision to implement FPE four months after 
the 1994 elections was a way for the UDF to 
communicate to the rural masses that multi-party 
democracy meant big changes from Dr. Banda's elitest 
dictatorship.  GOM officials, however, expanded 
public education without taking into account the 
state of education in Malawi and the ability of the 
existing schools to handle the increased enrollment. 
That lack of planning before implementation continues 
to hinder the expansion of education in Malawi, ten 
years later. 
 
RASPOLIC