Mother Group team with Gloria (Middle)
Mother Group are some of the major key individuals that assist any school to enhance the education of any girl child by working with the school committees and through their initiatives.
Mother Group Chairperson for Chiwamba primary school, Catherine Chalera, said that following the training they received under the Girls get Equal project on the importance of education among students, they have managed to bring 2 girls back to school.
Chalera said that lack of knowledge on the importance of education by most of the parents and children causes high school drop-out rates in the community.
“Most of the parents and children tend to see that education is a time wastage yet it is key to their children’s bright future,” said Chalera.
Gloria Yonahe, 15, is one of the girls who dropped out of the school at Chiwamba primary school after she thought that education is taking forever and there is no reason for getting educated.
Raised at Kasiya Village, her parents depend on farming by growing soya and maize for survival.
“When I dropped out of school in 2021 when I was in standard 7, I was just staying at home without doing anything then a team of Mother Group visited me and my parents and advised on the importance of education,” said Chalera.
When Mother Group asked my parents why Gloria was not going to school, Gloria said that her parents said that there was no future in having her child being educated as they saw any future in it rather than getting her married during the time she stayed home.
“My parents also said that they lacked the money to pay for my school fees and processing fee for the Primary School Leaving Certificate Examination at a fee of MK3000,” said Gloria.
Gloria said that the Mother Group advised her parents that they could sell soya which they grow each year and then pay for her fee.
Gloria is now back to school and in standard 8 at Chiwamba primary school.
Gloria said that she wants to become a Nurse at Kamuzu Central Hospital when she finishes her education