Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

REPORT
OF
FIELD SURVEY
IN
NORTH DIVISION

July 2003

Yoshihito NAKAYAMA
Education Planning Adviser
Ministry of Education, Science & Technology, Malawi

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

<Co nt e nt s >
１．PURPOSES OF THE FIELD SURVEY ________________________________3
2．SCHEDULE AND PLACE VISITED ___________________________________3

3．PERSONS INTERVIEWED WITH ____________________________________3

4．DETAILS OF DISCUSSIONS OR INFORMATION OBTAINED ____________3

4-1: North Divisional Education Office_________________________________________ 3
Observations/Issues: _________________________________________________________3
Proposed Actions____________________________________________________________4

4-2: Mzuzu District Education Office __________________________________________ 4

Proposed Actions____________________________________________________________4

4-3: Nkhata Bay District Education Office ______________________________________ 5

Observations/Issues on NIPDEP pilot project:____________________________________5
Proposed Actions: ___________________________________________________________5

4-4: Mzuzu University ______________________________________________________ 5

Basic Information: __________________________________________________________5
Progress of Hands-on Learning Mathematics and Science for Secondary Education
(INSET supported by USAID): ____________________________________________________6
Proposed Actions: ___________________________________________________________6
Annex 1: List of Main Persons Interviewed with _______________________________________7
Annex 2: School Visits Profile _______________________________________________________8
Annex 3: NIPDEP Project Sites for Construction _______________________________________14

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

１．PURPOSES OF THE FIELD SURVEY

To study the needs on capacity building for education officers/academic
staffs/specialists in education sector;
To study the status quo of the administrative aspects of education
offices/institutions at divisional and district levels;
To follow up NIPDEP pilot project at Nkhata Bay district.

2．SCHEDULE AND PLACE VISITED

Activities/Visiting Place Stay

1 Sun 13 July Move to Mzuzu Mzuzu

North Divisional Education Office

AM Mzuzu District Education Office
2 Mon 14 July Mzuzu
Visiting 2 primary schools and 2
PM secondary schools (CDSS, conventional)
Move to Nkhata Bay
AM Nkhata
3 Tue 15 July Nkhata Bay District Education Office
Bay
PM Visiting project sites of NIPDEP
Nkhata Bay District Education Office
AM
4 Wed 16 July Move to Mzuzu Mzuzu
PM Mzuzu University
Mzuzu University
AM Collecting Questionnaire
5 Thu 17 July Mzuzu
Collecting Questionnaire and additional
PM study at Primary and Secondary Schools

7 Fri 18 July Move to Lilongwe

3．PERSONS INTERVIEWED WITH

Please refer to Annex 1

4．DETAILS OF DISCUSSIONS OR INFORMATION OBTAINED

4-1: North Divisional Education Office

Observations/Issues:
1) The schools in urban city like Mzuzu face the problem of law participation and
contribution from communities.
2) The enrolment is expanding extraordinary, especially in the suburb of the city.
3) In terms of the number of primary teachers, Mzuzu urban has little problem.

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

4) NIPDEP pilot project is almost on the schedule.

5) A cluster system at secondary education practically is not functioning.
6) The quality control in private secondary education is serious condition in some
unapproved schools.

Proposed Actions
1) Identify and priotraise issues facing at school level in secondary education;
2) Encourage MoEST and PRISAM (Private Schools Association in Malawi) to
inspect private secondary school which have not satisfied minimum requirement as
educational institutions;
3) Encourage the North Divisional Office to be transparent on disbursement of the
budget in each district.

4-2: Mzuzu District Education Office

1) There are so many unapproved CDSS (117/167 total CDSS) so that the capacity to
accommodate primary graduates is so limited and the quality of education at
secondary level is vulnerable.
2) The PSLCE pass rate in 2002 was not preferable, that was about 65% (1,921
passed out of 2,943 entered) below the national average.
3) Moreover, the capacity for secondary education is so limited (only 362; 180 boys,
182 girls well-gender balanced) for conventional secondary and 250 for CDSS were
selected) that the demand of education among people has turned to private schools
which have not satisfied the minimum requirement as institutions that provide
secondary level.
4) The shortage of office vehicles and motorcycles PEAs or other education officers
from conducting effective activities.
5) A budget allocation to each district education office within the North Division is
unbalanced and that process is not transparent.
6) PEAs are given an insufficient professional reward in terms of their grade in civil
servants (CEO) and clear guideline for their career development.
7) More training opportunities are wanted among officers at district level.
Proposed Actions
1) Clear career/professional development paths for officers at district education
level, especially, for PEAs should be considered with the development fair
performance assessment tools;

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

2) Procurement of office equipment/vehicles is critical for effective implementation

and management of District Education Plans in same line with PIF.

4-3: Nkhata Bay District Education Office

Observations/Issues on NIPDEP pilot project:
1) The logistics to be disbursed budget for each taskforce is delayed so that the
preparation for implementation of the pilot project seems to be affected. (That
delay is brought about by the submissions of insufficient documentations from the
district to JICA team)
2) The sites in which classrooms or teacher houses are planned are well selected in
terms of the emergent conditions.
3) However, some of the sites have water problem, the shortage of bricks and seem to
be facing the problem of accessibility so that those should be considered before the
construction launches.
4) It is advisable for employed consultants to visit the sites regularly to check the
progress of construction.

Proposed Actions:
1) The capacity of handling logistics for proceeding NIPDEP pilot projects should
be strengthen;
2) NIPDEP JICA team and core members are advisable to give more technical
advice on the process of pilot project in each pilot district.

4-4: Mzuzu University

Basic Information:
1) Structure: I) Faculty of Education
Department of: Humanities;
Language and Literature;
Mathematics;
Education;
Teaching Studies
II) Faculty of Environmental Science
Department of Forestry

* Planning to establish department of land and survey by 2004

2) Enrolment: I) Faculty of Education: 374
II) Faculty of Environmental Science: 48
Total: 422
This year 62, the first cohort were graduated from the Faculty

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

of Education
3) No. of Academic Professors: 10
Staffs: Lectures: 27 of Master holders, 24 of B.A. holders
2 professors from Fullbright scholarship scheme (one for
director of research, the other for professor of education)
4) Tuition 321,000MK/year (50,000MK is paid by students and the rest
is subsidised by the government)
5) Partnership with Conducting INSET for secondary teachers collaborating with
other development USAID
partners
6) Shortage of staffs Staffs for science and math department are critical.
Filling number of post/establishment post
Physics 0/2, Biology 3/3, Chemistry 0/3, Mathematics 5/10
Total 8/18 (44%)

Progress of Hands-on Learning Mathematics and Science for Secondary

Education (INSET supported by USAID):
The project launched in January, 2003 collaborated with Davenport University, U.S.
supported by USAID. The duration is between January to December 2003.
The project has threefold;
1) Jan. 2003: Dr. Hide visited Malawi to visit educational institutions related to
teacher development and education so that the introduction of the
overall project was presented,
2) Apr. 2003: Workshop at Mzuzu University to demonstrate hands-on teaching
methods from U.S. Team to Malawian counterparts,
3) 1st week of Aug.: Conducting INSET for 100 secondary teachers in the North
Division (Rrumpi, Nkhata Bay and Mzuzu districts), 3days
workshop which will be held at Mzuzu University

After the project, Mzuzu is planning to present the next proposal to follow up
activities; however, it is not pursuing the institutionalisation of INSET at secondary
education in targeting areas.

Proposed Actions:
1) Need to promote collaboration with Domasi College of Education in the area of
INSET for secondary education;
2) Mzuzu required regular feed back of the INSET activities to MoEST and other
development partners.

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

Annex 1: List of Main Persons Interviewed with

Mr. Ziba Senior Planner, North Divisional Education Office

Mrs. S. Nylednda DEM, Mzuzu District Education Office
Mrs. A. Sichinga PEA, District Education Office
Mr. B. Banda DEM, Nkhata Bay District Education Office
Mr. J. Kwilimbe Assistant Registrar, Mzuzu University
Mr. F. Lungu Head of Science Department, Mzuzu University

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

Annex 2: School Visit Profile

MCHENGAUTUWA PRIMARY SCHOOL

Basic Information:
1 Students Enrolled: Enrolled
Boy Girl Total
Standard 1 410 407 817
Standard 2 205 223 428
Standard 3 295 307 602
Standard 4 204 208 412
Standard 5 194 205 399
Standard 6 199 215 414
Standard 7 207 215 422
Standard 8 128 143 271
Total 1,842 1,923 3,765
2 Number of Teachers & Total: 51,
their qualifications: * Qualification
JCE MSCE Total
Male 2 5 7
Female 28 16 44
Total 30 21 51

P8 PT1 PT2 PT3 PT4 TT

Male - - 1 2 3 1
Female - - - 6 25 12
Total - - 1 8 28 13
* 3 teachers out of 13 with TT will complete SSTEP
programme at Domasi September 2003, so that the
number of teachers who are under qualified will be 10.
3 Facilities: 8 classrooms (2 classrooms × 4 blocks), 1 teacher
house sharing with head teacher’s office
Established in 1999 under Primary Education Project
supported by the World Bank,
* Some facilities such as teachers’ houses have left
uncompleted and that are used for classrooms and
head teacher’s office
4 Performance: In 2002, PSLCE; 116/172 (67.4%) passed, only 13
selected to conventional secondary schools and 11
selected to CDSS

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

Challenges/Issues
1) Shortage of Classrooms (requested to DEM or MASAF but no response so far);
2) Staff room;
3) Teachers’ houses;
4) Furniture;
5) Sanitary facilities (Toilets);

Areas Necessary for Support

Classroom constructions (Pupil: Classroom Ratio = 470:1)
Preparation for “Education Day” Well school managed!

Improvised Classrooms initiated by

Community

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

CHIPUTULA PRIMARY SCHOOL

Basic Information
1 Students Enrolled: Enrolled
Boy Girl Total
Standard 1 235 244 479
Standard 2 186 222 408
Standard 3 295 344 639
Standard 4 232 250 482
Standard 5 140 172 312
Standard 6 107 139 246
Standard 7 116 145 261
Standard 8 88 113 201
Total 1,399 1,629 3,028
2 Number of Teachers & Total: 61 (Male: Female = 11:53
their qualifications: 16 temporary teachers
3 Facilities: 8 classrooms (2 classrooms×4 blocks) for 46 classes
1 administration block
1 head teacher’s house
250 plastic chair; Supplies Unit
10 plastic chair: School Committee
96 sets of desk and chair
Double shift: 1-2, 7-8: morning session, 3-6: afternoon
session
Established in 1994 supported by IDA
4 Performance: Year Boys Girls
1994/95 19 17
1995/96 30 27
1996/97 15 20
1997/98 13 12
1998/99 9 9
1999/2000 9 12
2000/01 12 13
* The number of students who are selected to secondary
* In 2000/01, PSLCE; 70 passed out of 108

Achievements
Conducting INSET within a school using the idea of “Joyful Learning” supported by
UNICEF;

Challenges/Issues
1) Lack of facilities;
2) Security issues (vandalism within the community);

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

3) Teachers’ houses;
4) Toilets

Areas Necessary for Change

1) Unclear performance assessment for teachers and unclear career development;
2) Unmet school calendar with examination schedule (exam period from Sep. to Jan
affects school calendar so that it is difficult to finish all syllabus)

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

MASASA CDSS

Basic Information:
1 Students Enrolled: Boys Girls Total
Form 1 32 38 70
Form 2 37 35 72
Form 3 40 30 70
Form 4 - - 64
Total - - 276
2 Number of Teachers & Total: 13 (Male: Female = 7:6)
their qualifications: All staffs are MSCE holders, and 5 of which are the first
cohort of SSTEP project then will be upgraded to
diploma)
3 Facilities: 3 classrooms and 1 library (2 blocks), 1 staff room
74 sets of desk and chair
4 Performance: In 2002, 27 passed and 2 selected out of 50 candidates

Facing Critical Issues

The school is under primary premises so that they are required to move out the
facilities they are now using for secondary education. The facility they are planning to
move from the next term (MASAF supported in 2001) has only one block (2
classrooms) one teacher house which would cause another problem in school
management.

Challenges/Issues
1) Shortage facilities;
2) Lack of learning materials

Areas Necessary for Support

Support for construction of new classrooms

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 Report of Field Survey in North Division （別添 ９）

KATOTO SECONDARY SCHOOL

Basic Information:
1 Students Enrolled: Boys Girls Total
Form 1 97 104 201
Form 2 114 91 205
Form 3 108 65 173
Form 4 146 102 248
Total 465 362 827
* 24 classes
* Double shift system
2 Number of Teachers & Total: 39
their qualifications: 2 unqualified (1 female and 1 male)
3 Facilities: 20 classrooms, 1 library, 1 multipurpose-library, 1 Home
Economics Library, 13 teachers’ houses, administration
blocks
4 Performance: In 2002, 143 passed 62 selected out of 214, the highest
passing rate in government shools

Challenges/Issues
Shortage of teachers

Suggestions from Schools

1) “Agricultural Science” teachers should be trained at Domasi College of Education
not at Bunda College of Agriculture for graduates of Banda are not stable to teach
at secondary schools;
2) The school is willing to play a key role in cluster system in the are so that the
facilities such as additional library or office equipments such as computer, fax,
telephone are ought to be strengthen and
modernised;
3) Head teacher’s office should be enlarged

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