"Education Backbone of Development" Says Malawi President at School Handover
The SEED project aims to improve access to secondary education in Malawi, which has one of the lowest secondary school enrollment rates in Africa.
SALIMA, Malawi - Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said quality education is the "backbone of national development" during a ceremony to handover newly constructed schools on Monday, writes Winston Mwale.
Chakwera received 66 of 89 new Community Day Secondary Schools built under the Secondary Education Expansion for Development (SEED) Rural Schools project, a $90 million initiative financed by the United States through USAID.
The event was held at Mkanga CDSS in Salima.
"The new Malawi we are building positions quality education as the backbone of national development as guided by key enablers of the Malawi Vision 2063 agenda and Sustainable Development Goals #4," Chakwera said.
He called the handover "momentous" and said the schools will help grow the country's secondary school enrollment rate, which currently stands at 16.6 percent.
Three years ago, Malawi also received 96 new classrooms at 30 schools in all four major cities under the urban component of the SEED project. In total, SEED has created over 40,000 new seats at secondary schools across the country.
"We remain resolute in enriching the learning experience for our children through quality infrastructure in a bid to grow net enrolment rate into secondary schools," Chakwera said.
He thanked the American people "for your enduring support towards quality education in Malawi."
The SEED project aims to improve access to secondary education in Malawi, which has one of the lowest secondary school enrollment rates in Africa.