Executive Summary
1–8 to be above 70 in one out of three schools; and less than 50 in two out of five schools. These findings buttress the view that significant space exists for more efficient use of the existing stock of primary teachers, without further adding to salary-related expenditure through additional recruitment. Classroom shortages are acute and have a greater impact on educational outcomes than teacher shortages. While primary enrolment increased by 45 percent between 2004 and 2013, the number of primary classrooms rose by only 12 percent. Recent research sponsored by USAID identified classroom shortage as a primary factor contributing to student absenteeism, repetition, and dropouts. Lower-primary grades are taught in open air in one out of three schools, resulting in cancellation of classes due to rain and heat. Moreover, an analysis of schools with less than 5 percent repetition showed a statistically significant association with significantly better resource endowments, specifically in terms of classroom space. Textbooks are poorly distributed and are not utilized effectively in class or by pupils at home. EMIS demonstrates that there are on average between 4 and 12 students per textbook, with the most acute textbook shortage experienced in grades 5 and 6. The results of the QSD survey, using a sample of 238 schools, indicated that in 40.3 percent of schools surveyed, no pupil enrolled in standard 5 was observed to be using a math textbook. Faced with uncertainty with regard to textbook supply, schools tend to stock up, using only a subset of available books on a daily basis. Moreover, students are not allowed to take textbooks home.
Output Efficiency The enrolment of large numbers of over-age pupils in primary education undermines output efficiency of primary schools. The proportion of over-age pupils in standard 1 declined only slightly, from 56 percent to 49 percent, over the course of the past decade. Due to high rates of student repetition, over-age pupils are disproportionately concentrated in the higher grades of primary education. Overage pupils are less likely to complete the cycle and more likely to drop out, due to shaming and harassment on the part of peers and teachers, and particular obstacles faced by pubescent female pupils due to poor water and sanitation facilities. The primary education sub-sector in Malawi demonstrates persistently high rates of grade repetition, particularly in standards 1 and 2. According to official data, promotion rates in standard 1 increased from 43 percent to 55 percent over the course of the past decade. A rise in promotion rates is normally accompanied by a fall in both repetition and dropout rates. However, this is not the case in Malawi and repetition rates for standard 1 have remained stubbornly high at 25 percent, and around 20 percent, on average, across the first six grades of primary education. Official data on enrolment, repeaters, and dropouts are mutually inconsistent, suggesting significant under-reporting by schools of the number of pupils who drop out of the system. By definition, rates of promotion, repetition and dropout must sum to 100 percent; however EMIS data do not fulfill this condition. It appears that dropouts are being under-reported; and those who are forever absent are kept on the rolls as repeaters the following year, most likely to inflate total enrolment.
Primary Education in Malawi • http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0794-7
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