By Fostina Mkandawire

Salima, December 18, Mana: Ministry of Education has underscored the need to create a strategic educational system that responds to learners' needs and empowers them to reach their full potential.

Speaking during the national symposium on curriculum and assessment review for schools and colleges, on Tuesday in Salima, Secretary for Education, Mangani Chilala Katundu, articulated that by Standard 4, Malawian learners must be able to read, write and solve simple mathematics.

“As we share findings of the needs assessment study, let us remember that the decisions we make here will have lasting impacts on the future of our children and our nation,” he said.

Katundu said the country's education system must help in building human capital that can propel the country into the right development channels.

He added: "The country's curriculum must be aligned with the Agenda 2063, where there has to be a shift in the way we perceive things and how our minds analyze issues. In short, it should build individuals, who are skilled in life and who have high moral standards."

Katundu emphasized the importance of establishing education systems that will help fulfil the aspirations of Malawi 2063 and contribute to building the human capital needed for the country's development.

He said, a curriculum framework that will provide a blueprint in every sector that is pertinent to the country's development must be put in place.

"This symposium is a culmination of different stakeholders meeting aimed at soliciting views. Therefore, the views will be consolidated and form a tangible curriculum that applies to the modern day," he said.

Executive Director for Malawi Institute of Education, Frank Mtemang’ombe, said there is a need to bring back civic and moral education in schools since it helps learner development.

"From research and different perspectives, we have established that the focus of education has been on the cognitive part and left out important skills of morals, cycle motor skills, and craft-related subjects. We need to bring back such lessons, education must play a role in shaping learners to be independent and stand up on their own," he said.

He, therefore, said the symposium will come up with a resolution after identifying gaps and come up with solutions.

Mtemang’ombe urged different stakeholders in the education sector to join hands and deliver quality education across the country.

The four-day symposium is being held under the theme “curriculum change and innovation: Towards achieving an inclusively wealthy and self reliant nation.