School expansion project will increase retention—MP

Chitipa East member of Parliament (MP)Kezzie Msukwa has said government’s Secondary Education Expansion for Development (Seed) Project will increase learners’ retention as many learners were dropping out of school due to long distances.

Through the project, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will construct seven community day secondary schools (CDSS) in the district.

Msukwa made the remarks in Chitipa on Monday during site identification consultative meeting attended by all MPs and councillors, chiefs and District Executive Committee members.

“We are grateful for the project because increasing the number of schools will shorten the leaners’ distancefrom home to school.”

“Some learners currently cover 20 or 30 kilometres to get to school and because of that, many learners, especially girls, leave school,” he said.

Chitipa district education manager Votie Mboweni said the schools will consist of two classroom blocks, two teachers’ houses, rest rooms, administration block, and a laboratory.

He said through the project, more primary school learners will be selected to secondary school.

On his part, Chitipa District Council chairperson Wedson Sinkhonde asked councillors and MPs to leave politics aside and work together in ensuring the project’s success. With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), the ministry will construct 200 community day secondary schools in rural districts nationwide.