By Khumbo Kamaliza and Japonicah Jabu

Lilongwe, June 20, Mana: Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Madalitso Kambauwa has today launched the ‘End Learning Poverty for all in Africa’ campaign, which aims at improving foundational literacy and numeracy skills among primary school learners.

The campaign was launched on Friday at Mkwichi Secondary School in Lilongwe, where the Minister emphasized that the initiative aims to ensure children can read, write, perform basic mathematics, and use a computer by the age of 10.

Kambauwa also emphasized the importance of children’s social welfare and well-being, stating that it is a driving force behind their development.

She said: “For this initiative to succeed, our teachers need extensive mentoring and support as they carry out their duties in the classroom.

"Therefore let us  ensure that teachers have the right teaching and learning materials at their disposal to help them teach better and our inspection and advisory services need to be strengthened so that gaps in our teachers are quickly recognized and we can help them improve in this area.”

She also acknowledged that President Lazarus Chakwera has embarked on an initiative to recognize and promote the importance of teachers.

Gerrit Maritz, the Deputy Resident representative of UNICEF said that ability to read, count and write is what is important for children and this campaign will raise the number of children who are able to do these.

"We all know why the children are learning and one area is to ensure that they get all the resources suitable for them to access education," said Maritz.

Additionally, Sophia Ndemutila Asipala, Head of Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation at the African Union, emphasized that for Africa to achieve its development agenda, no child should be left behind at the starting line of education.

She stated: “School dropout is no longer an option, as we now have all the resources at our disposal to ensure access to quality education for every child.”

Malawi is the second country to launch the “End Learning Poverty for All in Africa” campaign, an initiative that aligns with the Malawi 2063 agenda.