June 29, 2000
Vol . 18, No. 5
June 29, 2000 Vol . 18, No. 5
By Carol Thorbes
Simon Fraser University, Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba
and Hickling Corporation in Ottawa are joining forces to help
Malawi overcome its crisis in secondary school education.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) recently
awarded the two universities and the private consulting firm a
five year, $5 million contract to help the African nation of 10
million increase its roster of secondary school teachers and upgrade
the quality of secondary schooling.
Malawi is experiencing a severe shortage of space and qualified
secondary school teachers.
CIDA reports indicate Malawi's existing secondary schools will
only be able to accommodate 10 per cent of the country's 800,000
primary school graduates this year. Statistics show that as little
as one to three per cent of students in some of the agriculture-based
country's secondary schools pass national exams.
In their joint bid to CIDA, SFU, Brandon University and Hickling
Corporation cited a lack of qualified teachers as a key factor
contributing to the students' poor success rate. "Many of
the secondary school teachers are reassigned primary school teachers
in need of professional development to teach secondary school
effectively," says Charles Joyner, director of international
programs at SFU's centre for distance education.
SFU and Brandon University will help Malawi's Domasi College design
and implement a two-year diploma in education program for secondary
teachers. SFU will develop distance education materials for the
program, which will feature a combination of face-to-face and
distance delivery methods.
"This will be the first time that SFU's centre for distance
education will prepare course materials for a program to be offered
in Malawi," notes Joyner.
A field coordinator and an education specialist from Brandon University
are currently in Malawi, assisting with development and implementation
of the diploma program at the local level. The CIDA-funded project
includes opportunities for graduate level studies in Canada.
The initial diploma program is expected to produce 540 newly trained
secondary school teachers and an equal number of support workers
over the next five years.
Joyner estimates approximately 80 per cent of the teacher training
program will involve upgrading of subject knowledge and 20 per
cent teaching skills.
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