The Education of Girls in Malawi: Access and Retention

Governments and aid donor agencies worldwide have acknowledged the importance of female literacy as a prerequisite for development. At the Jomtien Conference (1990) the importance of universal education was delineated in the policy Education for All (EFA). Indeed, EFA is seen as a strategy for introducing children, especially girls, to conventional schooling. Whilst some progress has been made, retention of girls in schools presents a major obstacle to the fulfilment of the EFA vision, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa including Malawi. External policies such as EFA are questionable in a country such as Malawi, which is one of the poorest countries in the world. Achieving the original Jomtien vision of EFA is a particularly daunting challenge with a poor economic environment, inhibiting cultural influences and a low quality primary education system. This article is based on research, which emerged from a concern about the quality and sustainability of educational programmes for female education in Malawi. It has been apparent that whilst there have been many positive developments in the implementation of EFA policy, there still remain various obstacles to the development and implementation of Education for All (EFA) in the Malawian context attributable to inadequancies and inefficiencies in the primary education system. Furthermore, the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is also affecting progress in the education sector. The move towards the achievement of EFA policy is therefore, being constrained by a number of factors explored in this article.