British High Commissioner Visits Chibavi Primary School

On 19th September 2023, British High Commissioner (BHC) to Malawi Fiona Ritchie visited Chibavi Full Primary School in Mzuzu City Education District, under Chibavi Education Zone in Northern Education Division. The objective of the visit was to observe, give and receive feedback about the programme.

The School is among the NNP Pre–Pilot Schools which provides education services to a total of 3472 learners, out of which 1857 are girls and 1615 are boys. The National Numeracy Programme supports 824 girls and 809 boys in the lower classes of standards 1 – 4. The school has a total of 50 teachers, out of which 47 are females and 3 are males. Out of this number, 35 teachers (2 male and 33 female) are teaching in the lower grades.

Fiona Ritchie and other delegates joined and observed a Standard 1 mathematics class for 30 minutes which was an outstanding opportunity since Standard 1, being the crucial foundation of a child's educational journey and their first exposure to new mathematics curriculum, holds immense significance in shaping their academic trajectory. With the introduction of new materials, mathematics learners are set to have a transformative learning experience.

After the lesson observation, the team had a round table discussion with the teachers who were observed to share their experiences with the implementation of the programme. The BHC was excited to see how the aid is impacting the education life of the Malawian children especially seeing that every learner has a workbook. She further appreciated the honest feedback that the teachers gave as well as the challenges they expressed. She made a request that the technical team of the program should consider addressing the challenges presented by the teachers and closed by thanking the programme team for wonderful design and implementation of the program.