School Fees - Lilongwe

Since I kept forgetting to ask secondary school youth in Malawi how much their school fees were, I asked Chris Chibwana (who has commented several times on this blog) for an estimate. He wrote:

It depends...
Public schools are the least expensive, ranging from K7,500 ($49.42) to K15,000 ($98.85) per term (there are 3 terms in a year). BUT you either have to be very smart to make it there from primary school and/or be related to or have connections with someone in power (a politician or an officer with some level of control in the Education Ministry).

That leaves the majority to scramble for places in privately-owned secondary schools where you would expect to pay anything upwards of K15,000 per term (the more costly, the higher quality the instruction).
I hope that helps.

Tiyeni Tipewe: February 27, 2010

This week I'll be playing some clips focused around education (young people's access to both basic education and HIV/AIDS information). Feel free to write or call in with questions or comments about this or anything else you'd like to discuss.

Saturday, 6:00 pm on radioyako.com

Tinali, one of the callers last night, asked whether I did research before going to Malawi. More specifically, she referred to research on local culture (in areas of the country I would be working) and the impact that my presence might have on interviews. For information on local culture, I went to Mara Banda and Ellen McCurley (Pendulum Project). For more general information and advice, the list of people I sought out is long. I also looked to articles, studies, and books, and read about work that was being done in different parts of the country.

But now, Tinalii’s question makes me wonder, what books, articles, websites, studies, movies, etc, would any of you recommend to someone going to do work in Malawi? For example, as I mentioned yesterday, I might be presenting for a class of university students who will be going to Malawi this summer. I’d love to offer them some of your ideas.

Could we get a list going on this site?

Okay, the live Tiyeni Tipewe show last night convinced me that I need to get this blog going again. Thank you to everyone who listened to the show, and of course to those who called or wrote in. I hope our discussions won’t stop after each show, but will continue here on this blog.

Just a quick note for now, on a less serious subject. On the show, Paul Ncozana asked me if there’s something I miss from Malawi, and I answered “nsima.” I explained that I was taught how to make it, but that I don’t think it’d be as good here.

I think I should explain. Here’s the thing, it’s not just the nsima, but the experience I associate with it. Sharing a meal as a group, eating with my hands (to the amusement of those around me who were better at it than I was), visiting people in their homes. Something that I loved about being in Malawi was that people always had time. It didn’t matter if we showed up unannounced; they would sit and chat for a few minutes or a few hours, and always seemed happy to see us.

And Paul, here’s my nsima lesson with my friend Edna Chiunda. This is the first time I met her. When Arichie and I entered her house, she greeted us, and then handed me a chitenje to wear over my jeans. People said the nsima was good - and even took seconds!