Apam to retain 100 students in Mchinji, Salima

Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (Apam) says it targets to retain 100 secondary school students with albinism in Mchinji and Salima through the K58 million Porticus funded Inclusive Education Project it is implementing in the two districts.

Speaking during a meeting with parents of children with albinism in Salima on Saturday, Apam president Overstone Kondowe said through the two-year project, the grouping plans to eliminate all forms of stigma and discrimination against school going children with albinism.

He said dropout rate for persons with albinism is high in secondary schools; hence, requiring special intervention.

“We want to eliminate all social barriers students with albinism are facing which in turn force them to drop out of school,” he said.

In his remarks, Samson Kondowe, Overstone’s half-brother who is also Overston’s childhood guardian, who came as a motivational speaker, emphasised the need for sending children with albinism to school.

Samson said if their family did not send Overstone to school, he could not have been where he is today.

The gathering called for continued community sensitisation against killings and abductions of persons with albinism.