By Lisa Kadango Malango- Doha, Qatar
Doha, March 9, MANA: Chief Executive Officer for Education Above All Foundation Mr Fahad Al Salaiti has expressed commitment in improving children and girls education in Malawi.
Al Salaiti made the remarks after holding discussions with First Lady Monica Chakwera on the side-lines of the UN Least Development Countries summit (LDC) in Doha Qatar on Wednesday
Al Salaiti said the organisation focuses on primary education through a bring back to school campaign to improve education of girls and children.
He said he discussed with the first lady a number of areas including a new project that will be implemented in Malawi.
“We are committed to reach out to 55 thousand school children and we are still looking for future projects to reach out to children to ensure that they remain in school, and we will work closely with our partners as well as the first lady’s foundation ‘shaping our future foundation’ to support these children,” said Al Salaiti.
He added that during a round table discussion which drew eight ministers from different countries and other stakeholders was of great importance as the organisation announced a project which will be implemented in Malawi.
He said the projects will mainly focus on the bring back to school campaign for learners to ensure equal access to education and harness the power of quality education hence the need to do some reconstruction and rehabilitation of schools to create a better environment for the children.
“We are going to work with communities to bring children back to school and ensure they are provided with quality education, we will also support teacher training and ensure that children are retained in schools,’’ said Al Salaiti.
He pledged support to the bring back campaign programme ‘Shape our Future Foundation” championed by First Lady Monica Chakwera and support three projects worth 11 million US Dollars to the Malawi government through ministry of education.
In her remarks First lady Monica Chakwera appealed to international organisations to support children education in Malawi as one way of improving education standards for children and girls.
Minister of Education Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima said the meeting highlighted some of the challenges the ministry of education is facing to ensure that children remain in school.
She pointed out that the first lady’s foundation ‘shaping our future foundation’ is complimenting a number of projects in the ministry of education ensuring that children should not drop out, but remain in school.
‘’We discussed a number of challenges that concern children so that with our collaborating partners we can lobby for financial assistance to scale up efforts that the ministry of education is already working on.
She said there was need for partners to invest in education in Malawi to ensure that the learners remain in school.
The Education Above All Foundation was established with the aim of transforming lives of millions through education and has been working closely with the ministry of education in Malawi through trainings, building teachers houses and rehabilitation of school blocks with the aim to retain children in school to reduce poverty.
