Education rights activist Benedicto Kondowe has advised government to start focusing on implementing its commitments aimed at improving education rather than just making political statements.
The advice follows President Lazarus Chakwera’s reaffirmation that his government is committed to sustain and improve allocation towards the education sector to within the 15 to 20 percent of national expenditure by 2030 as stipulated by the global agreement.
Chakwera made the affirmation when he joined fellow world leaders and policymakers at the UN headquarters for the UN Transformation Education Summit at the ongoing 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Kondowe has expressed worry that although the country’s education sector is allocated a lion’s share from the annual national budget but disbursement to schools remain low.
Commenting on the president’s reaffirmation statement, education rights activist, Benedicto Kondowe, has urged the Malawi leader to leave to his commitment saying it is worrisome that although the country’s education sector is allocated a lion’s share from the annual national budget but the money that goes to important sectors of education is not enough.
“You may have a commitment on paper but if you are but if you are failing to implement that then it will make no difference, therefore I would want to urge the president to focus more on action than just making political statements,” said Kondowe.
Kondowe, who is also the executive director of Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC), cited a 2021 budget analysis carried out by his organisation which looks at disbursement, and it revealed that despite the education sector receiving a lion’s share but in terms of actual money that was disbursed from the treasury was only 64 percent.
He further bemoaned that there are many challenged in the education sector, therefore there is need to start thinking of giving the sector an allocation which is beyond 20 percent.
In the current budget, education sector grabbed the lion’s share of K462.24 billion representing 16.3 percent of the total budget.
