BACKGROUND OF EDUCATION IN BLANTYRE SYNOD

Education at Blantyre Synod can traced way back around 1876 with the coming of the United Free Church Party under the Leadership of Mr. Young from Scotland. In 1883 Rev. David Scott joined Blantyre Mission and was very much committed to education. He laid a firm and solid foundation in Education at Blantyre Mission. A number of schools were opened in various places which were under the Blantyre Mission. The schools provided courses in 3Rs (Reading, writing and Arithmetic) and Religious Instruction.

SECRETARIAT

Until 2001, the Education Department was being run b one officer, the Education Secretary based at the Synod Office. From 1st June, 2002, the Synod Management restructured the Education Office. There are now two officers who are called the Education Coordinators. These are teachers by Profession are retired from the Government Teaching Service. The Education Coordinators are assisted by Presbytery Agency Representatives based in the Presbyteries. These are either Pastors or Retired teachers.

Education Council
The Synod established the Education Council in the year 2002. The Synod Management Board appoints the Members of the Council who are CCAP Members with reference to representation from the following group:

• Ministry of Education
• Primary and Secondary School Head teacher.
• Synod Board of Management
• Agency Representative
• University of Malawi
• Malawi Institute of Education
• Non Government Organization
• Layperson

The Council is responsible for the provision of effective nursery, basic, secondary and tertiary education. The council is supposed to raise funds either directly or through the Education Secretary in order to implement its plans for Education.

3. MISSION STATEMENT
Blantyre Synod is committed to making effective and efficient use of resources to develop the Spiritual, Physical, Social, Emotional and Intellectual capacities of each individual to become a fulfilled and productive citizen

4. EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Primary Schools
Blantyre Synod has about 265 Primary Schools

Secondary Schools
There are 39 Community Day Secondary Schools and 3 Convectional Boarding Secondary Schools. Out of the 3 conventional Secondary Schools is one government aided and the other two are private. In total therefore, Blantyre Synod has about 307 Schools.

Management of Schools
Except the two private Secondary Schools, the schools is basically managed by the government. There are Education Managers in every district who report to the Division Education Managers. The Division Education Managers report to the Principal Secretary at the Ministry Headquarters.

The Districts are divided into Educational Zones. These Educational Zones are managed by Supervisors who are called Primary Education Advisors. Each Zonal Supervisor is responsible for over 10 Schools. The Schools are headed by Head teachers who are Government employees except for the Private Schools.

The Synod Education Department makes sure that the teachers appointed as Head teachers are Members of the CCAP. This enables the schools to maintain their identity and that the church doctrine is maintained.

The Synod Education Department works in collaboration with the government officials. Education Coordinators are sometimes invited to attend meetings organized by the Ministry of Education Government Officials on policy issues or innovations that are to take place. Sometimes the government communicates to the Synod Education Department through the Christian Educators in Malawi (ACEM) of which Blantyre Synod is a member.

5. SCHOOL COMMITEES AND PARENTS TEACHERS ASSOCIATIONS

(i) School Committee
The Synod Education Department makes sure that every school has a school committee. The committee comprises of church representatives, NGOs and Parents representatives The School Committee looks into the welfare of Teachers. It is responsible for the discipline of Teachers and other Supporting Staff. Maintenance and building of School blocks is the responsibility of the Committee. It is mandated to see that the school has enough resources, for example, desks.

(ii) Parents Teachers Association
This is under the School Committee. It looks into the welfare of both teachers and pupils. It checks on the behavior, dressing of both teachers and students. The PTA also ensures that students also get the right instructions from teachers. Parents Association brings together parents and teachers through meetings and open days.

6. ACTIVITIES DONE BY EDUCATION SECRETARIAT

• Seminars with Head teachers and Agency Representatives on their roles.
• Seminars for teachers on teaching skills, child abuse and protection.
• Provides guidance in community participation to school committees.
• Facilitation on form one entrance examinations to CCAP Schools
• Participation in meetings organized by the Ministry of Education on policy and Curriculum issues.

FUTURE PLANS

• Increasing the number of Secondary Schools
• Rehabilitation of dilapidated school blocks
• Construction of additional teachers houses and head teachers offices
• Opening up a technical college where our young boys and girls should be trained in various skills
• Establishing a University

7. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE SYNOD EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

(i) Procurement of Funds
The Synod Education Department has no potential donors. It operates from small funds or grants it gets from individual friends which are not enough to run the department. There are many projects that were planned some tome back and remain unattended to.

(ii) Shortage of Personnel
The Education Department has only two offices. These are not adequate since the synod has so many schools and hence many activities to be done. This shortage of staff is activated by lack of funds or donors.

(iii) Spread of HIV/AIDS Pandemic
The spread of HIV has created a lot of problems to the Blantyre Synod Education Department. Many of our teachers are infected with the disease and almost every day, every week, teachers are dying of the disease. The most unfortunate thing about this is that most of those who are dying are those with experience.
There are many orphans who are left behind because of deaths caused by AIDS. These orphans lack so many things for them to do well at school. For example, they lack food, clothing, writing materials etc. Though there is free tuition at Primary School level, there are fees at Secondary and Tertiary levels. As a result of this, many of our young Christians are failing to continue with their education.

(iv) Lack of Bursary Funds
Because of the problem of deaths aggravated by the spread of HIV/AIDS as stated earlier on this web page, the Synod Education Department established the Bursary fund to be assisting the needy students. Unfortunately, people have not been donating towards this though every week we have so many students applying to this Bursary.

(v) Unruly Behavior of Students
The introduction of Multi Party Politics in our country has brought about some problems. One of these problems is unruly student behavior. Many pupils in our schools are unruly because they fail to understand their rights. This is really a challenge to the Synod Education Department. Ways have been established to try to redress the situation.

(vi) Lack of Scholarships
There is competition between Islam and Christianity. Many Muslim teachers and students have access to University Education outside Malawi as opposed to their counterparts, the Christians. This is affecting us in the Education Department because we have nothing to offer and we will end up losing our Christian Teachers and Students to join Islam in order to get Muslim Scholarships for overseas universities.

(vii) The Introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE)
FPE was introduced in 1994 and as a result, the school enrolment rose from 1.9 million to 3.2 million. The introduction of FPE was not planned for adequately hence everything the government did was sort out issues as the emerged.
Some of the problems that emerged are the shortage of classrooms. This forced teachers to teach students under trees, in church buildings and dilapidated buildings.
Instructional materials became inadequate. Furthermore, teachers were also insufficient. This situation has forced the government to recruit untrained teachers for the job.
This situation however has lowered the quality of education.
As a Synod, we are committed to the improvement of the quality and standards of education that has deteriorated through in-service training and supervision of teachers in the classrooms blocks. Unfortunately, we do not have funds for all the stated activities and this is a big challenge for the Synod.

(viii) Lack of Transport
Though the Synod Education Department is vested with the responsibility to work after 307 schools, this work is hampered by the lack of reliable means of transport. The department does not have a strong vehicle to take the officers around the schools. At times the officers have to go b public transport to a point then walk the remaining distance. This is an unhealthy situation. However, the department is appealing to well wishers to come to their rescue.

Email: btsynod@malawi.net