By Vincent Khonje

Mchinji, December 7, Mana: In the remote area of sub-traditional authority (STA) Kapunula in Mchinji, on the Malawian border with Zambia, lies a primary school called Lipunga.

The humble institution is nestled over 60 kilometres from Mchinji Boma and faces the challenges of a poor road network.

The school sits in the middle of hills and some other social amenities apart from the school itself are not there.

It takes the members of the community hours to access the nearest hospital at Mkanda Trading Centre.

Lipunga Primary School, with 1,008 learners, currently faces challenges with inadequate teaching and learning resources and, to cap it all, the classes from standard one to eight have no desks.

Despite the school finding itself in the face of adversity, it has emerged as a shining example of resilience and success by defying the odds.

At Lipunga Primary School, the bond between the community and teachers is a beacon of inspiration.

Headmaster Nephtari Safali proudly shares: "The relationship between the community and the teachers has been a motivation for teachers to stay despite being in a hard-to-reach area."

The community's commitment goes beyond words, ensuring the teachers have a place to call home, gifting rewards to teachers when students excel, and even providing pieces of land for teachers to cultivate crops.

The awesome gesture from the community has made it possible for teachers to be retained in the hard-to-reach area unlike in other schools.

However, the community’s warm-heartedness to the teachers is not for nothing, there has to be a favour the teachers have to return to the community too.

Azele Zimba, the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) chairperson, emphasises the community's commitment to education.

"We sit down with teachers and understand their needs. In return, we support them, knowing this area lacks basic amenities. We aim to ensure teachers are happy so that our children receive quality education,” explains Zimba.

It is common for teachers to write the district education office to be moved from hard-to-reach areas to places close to towns and trading centres, but not for one, Dyson Jereman, a teacher at the school.

Despite being at the far end of the country on the borders of Malawi and Zambia with fewer amenities, Jereman has stayed for 12 years and feels at home.

Jereman says he is motivated to stay at Lipunga because the community is accommodative and understanding.

“I cherish the unity which is here between the community and among ourselves as teachers. The loving community provides us with necessary needs and we feel we are welcome, so there is no need to leave,” says Jereman.

He boasts that he has a dimba given by the community which affords him to grow various crops to support his family.

Blessings Khumalo echoes Jereman’s sentiments, saying the community at Lipunga is just pure at heart to the extent that she feels at home in the area.

Khumalo, who is one of the two female teachers at the school, says they are treated well and this serves as motivation to reciprocate the gesture by making sure the learners are given full support.

“The bond is just tight, this is what keeps us going despite some challenges,” says Khumalo who has even gotten married to a man from the same area.

The school has eight teachers’ houses and the community on its own constructed five of those.

The commitment of Lipunga's community and its educators has yielded remarkable results.

In both 2022 and 2023 academic years, the school achieved a 100 percent success rate in the Primary School Leaving Certificate Examinations (PSLCE).

What's more, in 2023, 64 out of 110 learners secured places in secondary schools.

With only 11 teachers, this number is considered adequate compared to other schools in such remote areas which usually have fewer teachers since they run away to other better schools.

Lipunga school, however, continues to provide quality education against all odds.

News of Lipunga's triumphs has spread beyond Mchinji.

A delegation from Karonga, comprising head teachers, school management committees (SMC) members, district education network (DEN) members, PTA members, primary school education advisors (PEAs), and other educationists visited Lipunga School just to learn a few things.

The trip was facilitated by Governance for Solutions (GFS).

William Ngwira, the Chairperson of Karonga DEN, expressed his admiration.

"Karonga has many hard-to-reach areas, but it's difficult to retain teachers, compromising education quality. We came to learn from the inspiring news from Lipunga, to understand what they do differently and see if we can replicate it," said Ngwira.

The fact that the Karonga delegates travelled over 600 km to Mchinji just to learn from a school in the far-flung areas of the district has excited Samson Kawiya, Mchinji's principal education officer.

Kawiya has praised Lipunga's approach and stressed the importance of community-teacher collaboration.

"This is the kind of mutualism we need between the community and professionals if we want to realise quality education," he remarks.

Mchinji education office oversees other schools in hard-to-reach areas like Kazyozyo, Kavunguti, Katonda and Gumba Zones.

However, it is not the first time Lipunga has been associated with success as the head teacher, Safali, was chosen the best head teacher in Mchinji and received an award and a bicycle at the World Teachers Day celebration in Mzuzu on 18 October 2023.

In Mchinji, Lipunga Primary School stands not just as a school but as a testament to the remarkable heights that can be achieved when communities and educators join forces to defy the challenges of a hard-to-reach landscape