Review of the Planning and Implementation of Free Primary Education in Malawi • 201
Table 5B.4
Primary Pupil-Teacher Ratio, 1989/90–2005 Total enrollment
Total teachers
Pupilteacher ratio
1989/90
1,325,453
20,580
64.4:1
1990/91
1,400,682
17,942
78.0:1
1991/92
1,662,583
23,294
71.4:1
1992/93
1,795,451
26,333
68.2:1
1993/94
1,895,423
27,748
67.8:1
1994/95
2,860,819
45,775
62.5:1
Year
1995/96
2,887,107
49,139
58.8:1
1997
2,905,950
47,343
61.3:1
1998
2,805,785
41,634
67.4:1
1999
3,016,972
45,812
63.2:1
2000
3,187,835
47,825
63.0:1
2001
3,164,199
53,444
59.7:1
2003
3,067,843
45,100
68.0:1
2004
3,166,786
43,952
72.0:1
2005
3,200,646
45,075
71.0:1
Source: Ministry of Education.
NOTES 1. The Ministry of Education (MoE) is presently named Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. It used to be Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture (MoESC), and at some point also Ministry of Education. For purposes of consistency, MoE is used throughout this chapter, except for citations to the MoESC/UNICEF study. 2. These include Castro-Leal (1996); Minis (1997); Chimombo (1999); Kadzamira and Chibwana (2000); Chimombo (2001); Rose (2002); Kadzamira and Rose (2003); Kunje, Lewin, and Stuart (2003); Kadzamira, Nthara, and Kholowa (2004); and World Bank (2004). 3. The composition of school fees was as follows: MK 1 per student was specifically earmarked for the purchase of core textbooks and kept at the central level; MK 0.50 per student, contributed toward the school development fund, were kept at the school level and used for maintenance and payment of utility bills and other school expenses. The rest of the money was allocated for teaching and learning materials, including the purchase of chalk and notebooks by the district education office (DEO). 4. In 2001, Malawi experienced a devastating famine, which adversely affected children’s participation in schooling. 5. The longitudinal study assessments were taken from texts one standard lower than the pupil’s current standard as well as from the current standard in which the pupil was enrolled. Thus, standard 2 pupils were tested on material