By Sylvester Kumwenda

Dowa, May 24, Mana: Minister of local government, unity and culture, Richard Chimwendo Banda has said efforts government is putting in place to develop the education sector will be rendered unfruitful if students are not dedicated in their studies.

He made remarks on Friday at Mvera Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) when he presided over the ground breaking ceremony of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) lab being constructed at the school by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA).

Making a heartfelt appeal, Chimwendo Banda said government is striving to provide quality education, with one of the efforts being the provision of the smart labs, but these can only bear fruit if students work hard.

"There are many stumbling blocks you may face like poverty, but poverty must not be an excuse. There is peer pressure, laziness, which may affect your studies. But you should know who you are and what you want to be, because where there is a will there is a way.

"We are all here for you and we are doing a lot like providing bursaries, infrastructure and teachers amongst other things to aid your studies. You can have all these, but if you do not work hard and have self-esteem, you cannot realize your dreams and all these efforts will go in vain," he said.

Chimwendo Banda added that this is a testimony that government is thinking of digitalization at another level.

"We hope our students will do well through research, learning new things, and developing their skills. And by also providing free internet to the community (at a 100 meters’ radius) will propel development," he said.

The minister then said this is another huge milestone for Mvera as it adds on the development of Mvera as an innovative city.

He said the project which seeks to construct 75 labs, 73 in CDSS's, one in a national secondary and another in a primary school, is also an achievement towards the creation of 1 million jobs for Malawians.

Director of Human Resources and Administration at MACRA Mary Botomani said there is a severe digital divide between rural and urban setups.

She said over 6,000 learners in both public primary and secondary schools do not have access to the internet, observing this is alarming.

"That is why we decided to come up with this intervention which at least seeks to bridge that gap. Apart from that it will also equip our young ones with digital skills they need to strive in this 21st century.

"All in all this complements governments agenda of transforming Malawi into a digitalized nation, and empowering the youth technologically as pillars for national development," she said.

She then asked the contractor to deliver a topnotch structure.

This is the third CDSS to benefit from MACRA`s construction the labs in Dowa after Mponela and Kabwinja.

The labs are being constructed under MACRA's Universal Service Fund.