Malawi: Monica’s struggle for education
Monica loves going to school, but she is too poor to attend regularly. Although primary education is free in Malawi, lack of food and clothes keep her out of classes.
“I go to school when I can,” says Monica, who lives with her grandmother in Kachiwanda village on the outskirts of Lilongwe, capital of Malawi. “I go without eating food some days. I have almost no clothes and I find it very embarrassing to go to school in my only dress, which is worn out.”
Monica’s mother died five years ago, when Monica was only four years old, and her father died shortly after. The cause was almost certainly AIDS related. But since HIV infection is considered shameful and few people know their HIV status in Malawi, Monica’s grandmother simply says that her parents died after a long illness.
Going to school offers children like Monica a vital opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge and confidence to realise their potential. International consensus on the importance of universal access to an education is emphatic. Yet more than 120 million children around the world are still denied this basic right. The best way to open schools to all children is to remove the fees and other costs that create barriers to poor families. More than 100 countries still impose primary school fees, while in countries that have removed fees, the cost of school-books and uniforms can keep education beyond the reach of the poorest children.
Malawi, a notable leader in the field of free primary education, has seen enrolment rise from 1.9 million to 3 million since abolishing primary school fees in 1994. The Government of Malawi also removed the requirement for school uniforms and assumed responsibility for providing school-books and stationery. Yet, Malawi’s education system is still afflicted by poor quality and inequitable access, particularly for vulnerable children like Monica.
UNICEF, in close partnership with the World Bank and other allies, actively supports the removal of all primary education fees and costs. If fees have been eliminated, UNICEF works to keep vulnerable children like Monica in school by reaching them with targeted assistance and school materials, and by ensuring schools provide access to clean water and good sanitation. To encourage girls’ enrolment, which lags behind boys’ in many countries, UNICEF aims to ensure school is a safe and friendly environment, for example by providing separate secure latrines for girls. UNICEF also works with young people and their communities to change cultural beliefs that may keep girls at home.
