Parliamentary action on education: Reducing barriers to girls’ education in Malawi

Aisha Adams MP from Malawi builds new hostel and school block for girls, and distributes over 100 bicycles, to provide safer access to education.

• This case study from Aisha Adams MP in Malawi is part of a campaign profiling parliamentary action on education as part of World Parliament Day, held every year on 30th June.

• This year, on Monday 30th June, IPNEd is hosting an online event to hear from members of parliament taking action to ensure more children are in school and receiving a quality education. You can register here.

• Aisha is an MP for Mangochi Nkungulu Constituency in Malawi. She is working to providing a safer passage and learning environment for secondary school girls her constituency.

Children in Malawi face multiple challenges to accessing safe education, particularly in rural areas where many children have to travel long distances to get to school.

This makes them extremely vulnerable to exploitation, particularly girls, and to dropping out of school. 

Aisha Adams, MP for Mangochi Nkungulu Constituency in Malawi, understands these dangers from her own experience as a young girl travelling a long distance to school and is doing what she can to ensure girls have a safe, supportive learning environment. 

Evidence shows that girls complete primary school at a higher rate (38%) than boys (29%) in Malawi, yet this pattern changes in secondary school. 

Only 15% of girls and 16% of boys complete upper secondary school, and among the poorest children, this falls to 2%.

Many lack the resources to stay in school, resulting in high rates of early marriage, teen pregnancy and school drop out.

It is estimated that 4 in 10 young women were first married before the age of 18, and 52% of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married before the age of 18 had no education at all.

“As someone who has walked the same path as these learners, I understand the challenges of accessing education when living far from school,” shared Aisha, “I recall being tired in class, late for lessons, and vulnerable to exploitation due to my circumstances.”

Last year, Aisha distributed bicycles to 120 girls across the constituency to help them get to school more safely and quickly. 

Girls travelling alone to school over long distances face exploitation and violence, which can often lead to them dropping out of school. 

Enabling girls to travel more safely to school is a vital way to help close the gap on school retention and ensure all children can access their right to education. 

Aisha has also opened a girls’ hostel and school block in Changali village in her constituency using funds from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

On 30 May, Aisha officially opened a girl’s hostel and school block in Changali village, built using funds from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

CDFs are a central government mechanism that allocates a portion of the national budget to each constituency to support local development projects. In this case, the CDF was utilised by Aisha and her constituents to improve schooling for and the safety of girls. 

The hostel, opened on 30th May, will accommodate 40 girls ages 14 to 20 years old, providing them with a safe and supportive learning environment. 

Operating next to the hostel is a government school, with teachers that are recruited and paid by the government.

“We are expecting good school performance from the girls,” shared Aisha, “because they have more time to study and to discuss what they are learning.”

Aisha is planning to build two more hostels next to another two schools, once the newly opened hostel in Changali village has been equipped with necessary resources, such as beds and mattresses for the girls. 

Aisha is exercising her role as a member of parliament and taking action to help ensure girls across rural Malawi have the same opportunities to thrive and contribute to their own livelihoods and within their communities. 

Making sure girls can learn is critical to eradicating gender inequality and enabling them to have a more secure, independent future where they can contribute meaningfully to society. 

The newly-built government school for girls ages 14 to 20 will be staffed by teachers recruited and paid by the local government