^{More than 70% of Standard 2 children (aged around eight) can’t read a word of a story in Chichewa (mother tongue). Further research studies completed by Hope Africa which assessed Standard 2 learners’ knowledge of the letter names and sounds and the ability to blend simple words together such as m-a-t and d-o-g concluded that most learners scored less than 5% in the test. This supports the government study that learners could not read even one word because children don’t recognise the alphabet.In addition, very high levels of absence contributes to the repeat rate in Standard One being more than 20% - adding to the difficulties experienced by teachers.}

^{What We Have Achieved}

^{1.Pay salaries of 10 additional Malawian teachers and staff.}

^{2.Provide training and professional development for new and existing teachers.}

^{3.Support two primary schools.}

^{4.Provide books, white boards, pens, classroom displays,}

^{5.Renovate and paint classrooms.}

^{6.Lesson plans, assessment tools and educational support are provided by qualified UK teachers.}

 

^{How We Work}

^{We visit primary schools to assess current needs and support required and work in partnership with expert organisations including the Char Char Trust, District Education Authority and local head teachers.}

^{1. An individual plan is put into place for each school to focus on key needs of that school.}

^{2. We aim to maximise the financial impact and the learning outcomes of each project. We are currently focussing on providing a structured programme of phonics teaching for Standard 1 and Standard 2 children. We place teachers, provide on-going training and put resources into place to ensure good quality teaching can take place.The aim to dramatically improve literacy and numeracy levels in Malawian schools.}

^{The Project’s Future}

^{1.Continue to provide on-going training and professional development for teachers.}

^{2.To reduce teacher to student ratio to 1:60.}

^{3.Provide learning and teaching resources}

^{4.Bring ICT into classrooms to improve learning.}

^{5.Continually assess learners’ progress so that we can provide accurate data and differentiate lessons to respond to children’s learning and needs.}

^{What It Costs}

^{By donating to this project, you will provide vital support to help primary schools improve the standard of education through continuous teacher support, smaller class sizes, essential resources and children having fun during lessons. It costs around teacher support, smaller class sizes, essential resources and children having more fun during lessons. It costs around £3000 per month to fund this project.}    

^{£10 pays for ten whiteboards and pens.}

^{£35 pays for one teacher for one month.}

^{£150 per month pays for one education specialist that provides training and support to new teachers.}

^{£8000 pays to build a new basic double classroom block.}

^{At Mpemba Primary School, (Blantyre Rural District), 1500 children queue every day at 6.30am for porridge.}

^{For many children, this can be their only meal or they will wait for the rest of the day for nsima, MALAWI’S staple food.}