 |
| Group that attended the Launch |
The Catholic Education Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) on Wednesday April 15, 2015 launched the Catholic education policy at a function graced by His Lordship Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of Karonga diocese and held at Capital Hotel in Lilongwe.
Speaking at the launching event of the policy, Bishop Mtumbuka who is the Bishop chair for education commission said the policy is crucial as it strives to promote the quality of education in Catholic schools and the nation at large.
Bishop Mtumbuka expressed gratitude to the government of Malawi for various support rendered to the Catholic Church and education component of the church is now spared.
“As a Church we started receiving support from government in 1926 which is a long time ago. We are thankful for the Ministry of education’s support to grand-aided school like those that we have as a Catholic Church,” he said.
He said while the church acknowledges the support from government but this thank you also goes to the people of Malawi who support Catholic schools through their taxes paid to government.
Bishop Mtumbuka who is also the Vice Chairman for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi observed numerous challenges that the education sector in the country is facing hence need to be addressed.
He spoke of the shortage of personnel and an increase number of orphans requiring assistance, HIV and Aids, poverty, poor water and sanitation facilities lack of school infrastructure, teaching and learning materials and unqualified teachers as the major challenges which the church cannot manage alone.
According to Bishop Mtumbuka, the relevance of these challenges emerges from the context of the social, cultural and religious complexity in which young people are growing up in.
“The launch of the policy has come about this time because times when the church, through our education commission, would want to keep up with the standards,” he said adding that “It is anticipated that the Catholic Education Policy will offer direction to stimulate those who have been given the mandate of managing Catholic education institution to ensure that the original aim for establishing the institutions is revived.”
For his part, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education Charles Msosa hailed the Catholic Church for coming up with the policy describing it as a good development to the education sector as standards of education are improving day by day.
“This is a big step as it will result in a more focused approach to addressing some of the problems in the education sector. We applaud the Commission for this initiative which is a sure sign of commitment to improve education outcomes for all Malawians,” Msosa said adding that “The Ministry will continue to support the Catholic Education Commission where possible as we strive to achieve our goals in education and also bring this new policy to life.”
The Catholic Education Commission has ably developed the policy with financial support from the US Bishop Conference through Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
By Prince Henderson-ECM Communications Officer