A classroom at Mafunde Junior Primary School in Blantyre. Photo by Chisomo Break
When Dorcas Mabedi, a passionate trainee teacher, arrived at Mafunde Junior Primary School for her teaching practice in 2024, she thought there had been a mistake.
From a distance, the faded signboard at the school, located in the area of Traditional Authority Kunthembwe in Blantyre West, gives the impression of a functional learning institution. But as she got closer, Mabedi began to doubt she was in the right place.
”You enter a classroom where, due to a lack of space, over 80 students are cramped into one room,” recalls Mabedi.
The situation becomes worse during the rainy season. “Sometimes the class includes students from three different grades sharing one space. As a teacher, you have to engage with them in the best way possible and ensure that all of them learn,” she says.
For Mabedi, the experience exposed serious gaps in the learning environment that disproportionately affect vulnerable learners, especially girls.
”No child should have to learn in a classroom like this, dirty and unsafe with no furniture or educational resources,” says Mabedi.
Founded in 2023, Mafunde Junior Primary School currently serves 313 learners from Standard 1 to Standard 6. Despite its growing enrolment, the school lacks basic infrastructure. It does not have its own borehole and instead relies on water supplied through a pipe by a nearby farmer. Moreover, it only has two rooms with no desks.
Headteacher for the school, Yamikani Makwale, says the two rooms accommodate over 90 learners each, and the rest learn in makeshift grass thatched classrooms built by community members.
This overwhelming number, according to the headteacher, makes it nearly impossible for teachers to provide individual attention to each student, hampering their ability to effectively teach and manage the classroom.
The makeshift classrooms make individual student assessment impossible, leading to poor teaching conditions and reduced teacher and student morale, he says.
The absence of desks forces learners to sit on the floor or balance books on their laps, conditions that affect their health and ability to concentrate.
”These two classrooms were built by a charity organisation, and we demarcated the other classroom as a staff room, but when lessons are in progress, staff members are also affected,” he says. “This threatens the quality of education.”
Sanitation is another pressing concern. The school has only two grass-thatched pit latrines, both constructed by parents. According to Makwale, the facilities pose serious risks to hygiene and safety for both learners and teachers.
”Initially we had one grass thatched pit latrine but we sat down with parents to provide us with an additional latrine so that boys and girls can use separate latrines,” he says.
The school is a daily struggle for female teachers, too.
learners, too, bear the brunt. Chikondi Moyo (not her real name), a standard six pupil, revealed that a big challenge comes when the farmer wants to irrigate his crops. He disconnects the water.
”The water supply is a struggle and erratic. Last year, the school committee, with the community members’ attempts to drill a borehole, were unsuccessful. The toilets, too, are insufficient for us,” says Moyo.
Director of Education and Sports with Blantyre District Council Alfred Mphandamukoko says the lack of adequate infrastructure and educational resources is not only for Mafunde Junior Primary Schoool but is a critical issue in several schools in the district.
According to Mphandamukoko, many schools operate without sufficient classrooms, desks, or teaching materials.
He stressed that the scarcity of resources not only hampers the learning environment but also demotivates both students and teachers.
”A backlog in construction persists, with government targets for building new classrooms often not being met due to budget limitations,” he explains.
Mphandamukoko banks his hope on the K5 billion Constituency Development Fund (CDF). He says once rolled out, it will help to improve education standards for several schools in the district.
An education commentator, Benedicto Kondowe, believes there are many schools across Malawi which are in the same situation as Mafunde Junior Primary School.
For Kondowe, thousands of schools in Malawi face a critical shortage of proper classrooms, forcing millions of students to learn outdoors, in overcrowded spaces, or in dilapidated buildings lacking furniture and safety.
”Lack of school infrastructure causes overcrowded which also increase the physical and mental strain on both teachers and students, leading to burnout and a decline in educational quality,” he says.
The United Nations Sustainable Development goal number 4 ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. However this is not the case in several schools across Malawi.
According to the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education Lily Kampani, Malawi is committed to SDG 4, with a focus on free primary and secondary education, improving literacy, and expanding vocational training.
While primary school enrollment in general has improved, in the country significant challenges remain regarding lack of proper infrastructure and wash services in several schools leading to high dropout rates and low completion rates.
