Some duty-bearers in Nsanje have decried lack of community participation which is contributing to poor performance among leaners in national examinations in the district.

Speaking on Friday during an education stakeholders meeting at Nsanje Secondary School supported by Foundation for Civic Education and Social Empowerment (Focese), the district’s education manager Greystone Alindiamao said the district came last in the recent Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC) examinations results.

Alindiamao speaking during the meeting

He said: “With 72 percent PSLC passing rate, Nsanje was the worst performing district.  The greatest challenge facing education in the district is lack of community participation which includes chiefs, parents and local structure members.

“We expect communites to encourage children to go to school. Deployment of children to do household chores is another serious challenge affecting education in Nsanje.”

In his remarks, Chief Malemia said some parents feel school is a long-term investment, as such, they do not encourage wards to work hard

“As a district, we feel completely down with the results coming from our schools. We are in a sorry state, if I may say, and we need to find a solution quickly,” he said.

Focese programme manager John Bamusi said they are implementing a project on Strengthening Local Governance Structures Focusing on Agriculture, Health and Education to address some of the challenges being faced in the education sector.

Focese is implementing the project with K108 million funding from Norwegian Church Aid and Dan ChurchAid.

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