By Aliko Munde

Chitipa, April 2, Mana: Misuku Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) learners have applauded Chitipa District Council for constructing a girls’ hostel at the school with funding from the World Bank’s Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project.

Misuku CDSS Head Girl, Jestina Mtambo, said girls have been walking long distances to school which, she said, resulted in many girls dropping out of school.

She said this Tuesday when the reporter visited the school to appreciate the girls hostel which has been constructed to the tune of K70 million; beds and mattresses inclusive.

Mtambo said the terrain of the area, which is mountainous, has also contributed to early marriage amongst learners.

“The construction of the hostel has seen many girls committing to education rather than marriage,” Mtambo said.

Misuku CDSS Head Teacher, Patrick Kamanga, said construction of the hostel has contributed to quality of education for girl learners.

“For the first time in the history of the school all the girls who wrote Junior Certificate of Education and Malawi School Certificate of Education examinations last year passed.

“We attribute this to the hostel because girls are able to concentrate on their education than thinking of long distance going back home after classes,” Kamanga said.

According to Kamanga, the highest learner got 15 points and highest amongst girls got 27 points, which he said is an achievement to a rural school like Misuku.

Chitipa District Council Director of Public Works, Engineer Misheck Gondwe, said the council decided to construct the hostel at Misuku CDSS to accommodate girl learners on campus so that they concentrate on education.

“We do not want our girl learners to travel long distances to school. The girl learners are no longer exposed to sexual harassment since they are on campus. It is expected that the girl learners' performance will improve significantly and dropout rate will be reduced,” Gondwe said.

GESD is a Government of Malawi project implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and the National Local Government Finance Committee with funding from the World Bank.