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Long wait for physical education in schools

Malawi will wait for five more years before physical education (PE) can be restored as a subject in the primary school education syllabus.

During a national sports conference at the Malawi Sun Hotel in Blantyre a few days ago, Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) executive secretary George Jana said curriculum designers have advised them that the restoration process can only be made after an eight-year circle of the current syllabus is completed.

Chiumia (L): I will discuss with my education counterpart

“So far, the new syllabus is in the third year. This means our bid to have physical education back as a stand-alone subject will have to wait longer,” he said.

But Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Grace Chiumia said she will liaise with her counterpart in the education ministry to discuss the possibility of fast tracking the reinstatement of the subject.

“We know that physical education was integrated into expressive arts subject. However, it is not given the desired attention as teachers sometimes ignores PE to focus on music as it demands a lot,” she said.

Malawi’s struggles to excel in international competitions such as football and athletics are attributed to poor youth development structures including lack of physical education among pupils in primary schools.

There has been an outcry from stakeholders including the Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) to have the subject back in schools after it was scrapped off from the syllabus since the introduction of free primary school education over 20 years ago.

MOC president Oscar Kanjala blamed Malawi’s poor performance in competitions over the years to the absence of the subject among pupils and he described the restoration delay as a big blow to sports development.

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