ICEIDA Delivers a Secondary Grammar School in Malawi

The first secondary grammar school in Malawi that was built with Icelandic funds was handed over to the Malawian authorities last week. The new school is in the village of Nankhwali in Mangochi-district where ICEIDA has carried out various projects in past years.

According to Stella Samúelsdóttir, ICEIDA’s Project Manager for social projects in Malawi, the school was ready earlier this year and is already operational. “The delivery marks a milestone in the history of ICEIDA in Malawi since this is the first time a secondary grammar school is built with Icelandic funds but from 1995, ICEIDA has focused on building grammar schools,” says Stella. Furthermore, she mentions that the school is also the first school that ICEIDA builds according to a new environmentally friendly method of using sun dried bricks made of cement and soil.

Many people attended the ceremony on Thursday last week, chiefs, teachers and school directors, students, parents, district officials and the country’s educational authorities. “In the speeches, a lot of gratitude to ICEIDA came forward for the support which the agency gives to education in Mangochi-district,” says Stella. “Special thanks were given for ICEIDA’s successful and good collaboration with the educational authorities, where emphasis is put on listening to the needs of the Malawians and where they consider the need to be the strongest. Thanks were also given for the agency’s emphasis on delivering fully equipped schools, with a library, a laboratory, an administration wing as well as necessary furniture and lavatories to name a few. The accommodations have the effect in rural areas that it is easier to hire educated teachers,” says Stella.

In collaboration with the educational authorities in Malawi, a needs assessment was carried out regarding schools in Mangochi-district and schools prioritised according to the need for reforms. A four year plan for the development of the schools was made and ICEIDA in Malawi works according to this plan.