On 8th February, 2017, Her Excellency Kae Yanagisawa, Ambassador of Japan to Malawi signed and exchanged a contract with Mr. Christopher Naunje, the Manager of Shire Highlands Education Division. The contract signifies a grant amounting to US$105,267 from the Government of Japan to the Republic of Malawi under the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grass-roots Human Security Projects, extended to the Project for the Construction of a Laboratory and Library Block at Namadzi Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) in Chiradzulu District. The ceremony was held at the Embassy of Japan and was graced by Hon. Dr. Emmanuel Fabiano, Minister of Education, Science and Technology.
Education is a foundation of well-being of each citizen and of the socio-economic development of a country, as stipulated in the Goal No. 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals especially “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.” In this respect, Japan considers science and mathematics education as one of priority areas, where it can show its comparative advantages from its past experiences. In fact, the Government of Japan and JICA have continuously been supporting the development of science education in Malawi, such as providing technical support through dispatching science and mathematics volunteer teachers under JICA’s Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer programme and the project for Strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education (SMASSE) to improve the quality of science education in secondary schools through high quality teachers’ training.
In the meantime, in line with strengthening science education, the Government of Malawi introduced a new school curriculum for secondary education in 2015, in which chemistry and physics subjects are now being taught in secondary schools. However, many CDSSs are at a disadvantage because they do not have reliable and well-equipped laboratories to teach practical science which is the case in Namadzi CDSS. The Government of Japan therefore decided to provide a grant to the Shire Highlands Education Division to assist the project of construction of a laboratory and library block and procurement of laboratory instruments and school furniture at Namadzi CDSS.
Speaking during the ceremony, Ambassador Yanagisawa expressed that, the success of the project will enable the students of Namadzi CDSS to conduct diverse learning experiments in a conducive environment and later improve their knowledge. Moreover, the library will also allow the students to access different learning materials and study after classes without any disturbance. The Ambassador then closed her remarks by affirming continued cooperation between the people of Japan and Malawi to improve education, especially assisting in training of teachers.
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