MINISTRY OF EDUCATION HANDED TEACHER EDUCATION BOOST.
By Andrew Magombo – Mana.
Two Teacher Training Colleges (TTs) have been handed mobility lifeline following a donation of three vehicles from the German Development Corporation to the Ministry of Education (MoE) in support of basic education.
The two TTs benefit from the donation are Karonga and Machinga.
The handover was conducted on Tuesday at Capital Hill in Lilongwe in context of the phasing out of Basic Education Programme implemented by GIZ which run from 2018 to October, 2023 with a focus on a well-functioning teacher training system.
Speaking after being handed the car keys, Secretary for Education, Chikondano Mussa hailed the long standing support from Germany to Malawi in the education sector for close to 30 years since the 1990s.
Mussa said the vehicles will improve monitoring and evaluation as they will ease transportation challenges during inspection of student-teachers in their respective practicing schools.
“We cannot erase the contribution from our German counterparts. Their contribution in teacher education is immeasurable because teachers are the core element in our education system; without them we have nothing,” she said.
Mussa cited previous donations from GIZ towards basic education which include refurbishment of three TTCs and construction of primary schools, among others, as an indication of commitment.
She, therefore, advised the recipients Principals of Karonga and Machinga TTCs to take care of the vehicles, a Toyota Cruiser and a Nissan X-trail, as a token of appreciation to the donors.
The Ministry’s Department of Teacher Education and Development (DTED) has also received a Ford Ranger vehicle to improve service operations in basic education from the headquarters.
GIZ Team Leader for Basic Education Programme, Theresa Rooney pledged that other vehicles and equipment from the project will be duly handed over to the Ministry and other Teacher Training Colleges upon completion of the programme in October.
“We are focusing on teacher education and after this project Germany will continue to support the basic education sector in Malawi through multilateral organisations such as Global Partnerships for Education and UNICEF,” she said.
Acting Principal for Karonga TTC, Edward Kalua expressed gratitude for the donation saying it will not only improve teaching practice inspections but also ferrying student-teachers to hospitals during emergencies.
Apart from the vehicles, the ministry has also been given Information Technology equipment which will be used by DTED to upload and manage content on the newly established Digital Library for the TTCs.
Mana/am/pk
