Access to quality education in Malawi has proved challenging for many years.
Examples of the numerous inequalities faced by under-resourced schools in rural Malawi include the lack of visual learning aids and inadequate classrooms, desks and chairs. Classrooms are overly full of learners, with some having to sit on the floor for the duration of lessons. In many instances classes are held outdoors under trees because of classroom shortages. Additionally, the absence of uniforms and stationery, the direct result of endemic poverty, results in avoidable absenteeism.
Gift of the Givers has adopted the 'Happy Classroom' concept as a low-tech solution to promote education in Malawi. Through this project, we transform existing classrooms by renovating rooms and painting the syllabus on the walls, ensuring that everything the learner requires is available to them year-round. The paintings provide a bright and inviting environment for learners and has shown to be motivating for both teachers and learners. This long-term, cost-effective solution provides an incentive to learners to attend school regularly, giving them an enhanced opportunity for success, given that they undertake their schooling career within a befitting learning environment.
One’s quality of life is improved as greater job opportunities become available to graduates who would otherwise often have no other alternative but to subsistence farming and/or child marriage for survival.
There can be no doubt that quality education improves a country’s ranking on the human development index. Through our Happy Classrooms project, we aim to support not only the learner, but the country too.