Investing In Education Is Key To Success

 All over the world, education is touted as the key that unlocks doors that would, otherwise, remain locked for some people.

For instance, we have seen people who have broken the family curse of ignorance pulling others out of the pit of ignorance by sponsoring their secondary school and even tertiary education.

However, only through investments in primary school education can the country really build a strong foundation for the future.

Apparently, one of the tools that are used for building that foundation is free primary school education. By making primary school education free, everyone is given a chance to have a go at education and, in effect, accorded an opportunity to have a shot at the future.

Unfortunately, some learners come from resource-constrained households, such that they go to primary school on empty stomachs.

Fortunately for such learners, some well-wishers—that is, multinational organisations, private sector players and local non-governmental organisations, not forgetting individuals—have been funding the provision of food. Such stakeholders either provide funds, which are used for purchasing food items, or provide the actual food.

The idea is that both poverty of the mind and poverty of the stomach must be eliminated.

However, the effort is facing a new challenge. The Ministry of Education says Malawi will require about K400 billion to ensure that all primary school learners are covered by the school feeding programmes by 2030, as the government and partners seek private sector support to address the problem of hunger in schools.

The initiative, which is being spearheaded by the government in partnership with World Vision Malawi and the private sector, aims to expand school feeding coverage from the current level of about 40 percent to 100 percent.

Otherwise, those who depend on school feeding programmes risk going back to the days when they had no food. This also means those who have not been reached with food items may continue succumbing to early marriages and other challenges other than being in class on empty stomachs.

As such, we urge all of us to join hands in ensuring that every needy stomach in primary school is reached with food by 2030. Such as effort does not mean donating billions of Kwacha. Any form of support, in cash or in-kind, can help those who are spearheading the initiative to reach out to the needy.

Time to join hands for this noble cause is now.