Parliamentarians hails MERP 

Members of Parliament on Government Assurances and Public Sector Reforms Committee visited Mangochi to inspect the Malawi Education Reform Program (MERP) project which is constructing 10, 900 classrooms across Malawi.

Chairperson for the committee, Noel Lipipa who is Blantyre City South Member of Parliament (MP) hailed the communities for actively participating in the construction of the classrooms, and urged them to ensure that the facilities are well taken care of once completed and handed over to the community for use.

The committee wanted to ascertain the pace and quality of the services being provided in the quest to improve education sector in the country.

Among the visited sites were Nakanyanja, Masongola II and Mangale primary schools in TA Jalasi and TA Chowe respectively.

MP for Nkhota-kota North, Henry Chimunthu Banda who is also former speaker of Parliament says the construction of 5,450 classroom blocks across the country is a great development as it will increase the learning space for learners which will in turn significantly reduce drop out rate.

The honorable members expressed gratitude for a good speed at which the first phase is going.

The Secretary for Education Associate Prof Mangani Chilala Katundu assured the committee that most of the classroom blocks will be ready by the opening of first term of the 2024/2025 academic calendar in September.

Katundu said the MoU which was signed between the Ministry and National Construction Industry Council has helped a lot to speed up construction with quality work after training the clerk of works.

MERP is being financed by the Malawi Government, the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).