Old Mutual (Blantyre) Foundation Trust on Wednesday, 22 November 2023, handed over a fully-furnished two-classroom school block with a headteacher’s office and staffroom at Mbenjere Primary School in Machinga.
The school block is the second following a similar donation in 2022 at Mkanda Primary School in Mchinji and they are being constructed under Old Mutual Foundation’s School Infrastructure Improvement Program being implemented in collaboration with CARE International in Malawi.
Old Mutual (Blantyre) Foundation Trust spent over MK69 million to construct the structure at Mbenjere School.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Old Mutula (Blantyre) Foundation Trust chairperson, Tawonga Manda, said his organisation is committed to contributing to the attainment of Malawi 2063 by among others ensuring quality education through the provision of standard infrastructures in schools across the country.
“We all agree that education is a critical pillar to ending poverty and other inequalities that exist within our society. Therefore, investing in education is key for social and economic development, and one area that needs to be seriously considered is infrastructure. Good facilities like school blocks encourage learners to pursue education diligently and more specifically ladies who most often their pride is met through quality infrastructure,” he said.
On her part, CARE Malawi Country Director, Pamela Kuwali, said inadequate and poor school infrastructure is a barrier to school attendance, and therefore, Old Mutual Foundation’s continued support complements and directly contributes to the work that CARE is doing in the education sector in ensuring access to inclusive and quality basic education for all children.
“The need for a school block cannot be overemphasized at a school like Mbenjere because children learn in extremely difficult circumstances as you can see. CARE believes this school block will positively contribute towards the attendance and performance of the learners and completing the Ministry of Education’s efforts in increasing access to education,” she said.
The acting Director for Education in Machinga, Nellie Kamtedza, commended Old Mutual and CARE Malawi for collaborating to improve school infrastructure at Mbenjere Primary School, saying it would go a long way in addressing the challenges that the school was facing.
She said: “The majority of Machinga’s 190 primary schools only have either one or two classroom blocks, forcing them to rely heavily on grass shelters.”
Apart from the School Infrastructure Improvement Program, Old Mutual is implementing several other projects in the education sector including the Secondary School Bursary program, which adopts 100 students every year, sponsoring of the Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad, and provision of scholarships for Technical and Vocational training at SOS Vocational Training Center.
