Dowa Dec members being briefed on EQUALS project
The Dowa District executive committee has approved a Ministry of Education through Equity with Quality and Learning at Secondary [EQUALS] Project to be implemented in the district to improve quality of Mathematics and Science instructions, this saw the distribution of Mathematics and Science textbooks done in all the targeted schools across the country.
In 2021, the Ministry of Education through EQUALS Project received Addition Financing from World Bank to help respond to Covid-19 pandemic, the funding was meant to support an expanded response to Covid-19 pandemic related crisis whose effects had caused disruption across the country and specifically in the education sector.
Additional Financing is being utilized to focus on interventions to make secondary schools safe for in-person learning activities and also to fulfill its objective of increasing access to secondary education in Community Day Secondary Schools in all the 34 education zones across the country.
Briefing the Dowa District executive committee at a meeting held at the boma, Education Divisional Planner for Central East Education Division [CEED] Charles Muthothe, said activities under Additional Financing will include; purchasing of personal protective equipment such as masks, gowns, hand-washing gels for students and staff in secondary schools saying these were procured and distributed in the same year Covid was at a peak.
Muthothe said the project will provide low-cost classrooms in public secondary schools with large enrolments, provision of auxiliary teachers to meet the demand created in splitting classrooms in conformity to recommended social distancing norms in schools.
He said the project will provide online materials for distance education to enhance access for students who cannot access in-person learning and continuous sensitization and education of school communities on Covid-19 pandemic.
The Education Planner said the major selection criteria for schools to benefit from this project was targeting schools with large enrolments where effective social distancing was not practical owing to limited or dilapidated classrooms.
He said currently, procurement of contractors has been completed for low-cost classrooms and have been handed over to the sites saying works are expected to start in all the targeted schools running for a period of 4 months.
…..’’The construction works will be monitored jointly by the Central East Education Division and EQUALS Consultants, Division Supervisory Team [DST], District Councils and the Clerks of Works,’’….said Muthothe.
He said implementation of these projects will follow the National Laws and standards as required by the World Bank saying the project has an Environmental and Social Management framework and it will facilitate the establishment of Grievance Redress Committees in all sites, clusters, District, and national level saying all these committees will be trained on handling of cases that may arise using a Toll Free line of 2477.
In his remarks, Dowa District Council’s Director of Administration Thomas Mwafongo, said the council is looking for more partners to come in so that learners should not be learning under trees and learning under trees be a thing of the past in the district.
