Fawema boosts girl child education in Dowa
The Dowa District Education Office has commended Forum for African Women Educationists in Malawi (Fawema) for helping improve enrolment of girls in over five schools in Chibwata Zone.
The district’s primary education adviser, Joseph Chafakira, said this at Fawema’s extended celebrations of the International Day of Girl Child at Dzaleka Teachers Training Collage in Dowa on Monday.
Chafakira, who presided over the ceremony, said many girls now remain in school at the five primary schools and one community day secondary school where Fawema has introduced clubs called Tuseme and mother groups.
“About eight percent of girls have been dropping out of school every year here. But now tremendous improvements have been made through Fawema’s Tuseme (Speak out) clubs and the mother groups which have been trained in various skills,” said Chafakira.
He also commended Fawema for donating six sawing machines and training the women on local sanitary pads making, saying this will reduce the number of girls absconding from classes due to menstruation problems.
Fawema chairperson, Virginia Kachigunda, said Fawema wants to enable girls and women to exploit their potential in order to effectively contribute towards national development.
“We want more girls to have education opportunities. We promote gender equity and quality education through policy advocacy and implementations of gender responsive programmes,” said Kachigunda.
World University Services of Canada (Wusc), which has funded Fawema with K5 million on its girl child initiatives, acknowledged the organisations’ progress.
The mother groups and girls’ clubs being assisted by Fawema in the district include those from Ndunje, Chibwata, Mpalankhwali, Umodzi and Dzaleka schools.
