A gift of pencils was also a gift of education: the power to change lives through learning.
Mpata Primary School, in Luwatala Valley, has 368 pupils (learners) aged from 6 years old to about age 15. There are eight class rooms with 12 members of staff. All the children walk to school. Some have shoes and a uniform whilst others do not.
Mpata Primary are keen to share with the schools in Stow, Heriot, Fountainhall and Clovenfords: comparing ways of learning, life and getting to know new friends.
Here are some facts from Luwatala:
- start school at 7.30am
- collect water for drinking from a pump and put it into buckets for filtration
- grow their own maize for lunches
- learn English and Chichewa languages
ADULT EDUCATION AT LUWATALA CHURCH REACHES OUT TO THOSE ADULTS WHO WANT TO LEARN TO READ AND WRITE.
To learn more about some of the projects with the school in Mpata see our Blog.
If you would like to donate towards the learning in Mpata click Here for our CrowdFunding page.
May 2020
A private donation of £100 provides text books for the final year students of Mpata.
To get into secondary education final year (stage 8) students from Mpata primary must get good grades in their exams. They have not been able to go to school since March as all schools are shut to avoid the spread of Covid-19. Education programmes are now being broadcast by radio and are available to download from 3G in Malawi, however, these students do not have access to either a radio or a smartphone in Luwatala. They will be in competition with other children for a secondary school place – which are not free in Malawi. To help with home study the donation funded the purchase of text books in Maths, English, Agriculture, Science, Social Science and Expressive Art; pens and paper. We wish the students of Mpata good luck in the preparation for their exams.