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| 12 year-old Mary Imran |
Not
many girls from Mangochi district reach standard 8 of their primary education and this is attributed the case due to a number of factors like child
marriages, teen age pregnancies and lack of enthusiasm due to lack of role models.
Further to this, young people from Mponda village in the area of Traditional
Authority (T/A) Katuli have an additional causative obstacle which is a. long
distance to and from school.
Most young people get tired of the 15 km
distance a few days after enrolling and they decide to drop out first and enroll
again when they are old enough to manage the distance. However, most of the
boys and girls return to school after getting older but they eventually drop
out again after a few weeks as well. This time around, the reason for dropping
out of school revolves around the issue of age. By the time the dropouts feel
they are old enough to walk 30 kilometers to and from school for 5 days in a
week, they get into a class that is full of learners who are two times younger
than them. Coping up becomes difficult and they eventually dropout as they feel
too old for standard 1.
However, 12- year old Mary Imran who
is a standard 3 learner at Kwisimba Primary School has a slightly similar story
to tell but her story comes with a different twist at the end.
In 2009, when she was exactly six
years old, Mary enrolled at Kwisimba Primary School which is 15 km away from
her village. She enrolled together with her two age-mates from her village as
well.
After only a week, the three young girls
realised that they were up against an insurmountable task. This is when they
all realised why other older girls just stay at home despite having knowledge
on the importance of education.
Mary remembers the general body weakness
and fatigue that made her feel paralytic on Saturday after walking for 30 km every
day for 5 days. Her friends also complained similar ailments. The inevitable was
about to happen and just like many others before them; they dropped out of primary
school without much ado. The agreement was that they will go back to school
after reaching 12 years of age as their muscles and bones will be stronger and harder.
Upon reaching the age of 10 in 2013, Mary
was old enough to join a group of adolescent girls which she had always been wishing
to join since the group was established but age was the only limiting factor.
After the then 10-year old Mary joined
Mponda Adolescent Girls Club whose establishment was facilitated by UN-JPAG (United
Nations Joint Programme on Adolescent Girls), Mary has been learning a lot and
the group’s activities met her expectations.
One day, during one of their usual
sessions, all the group members were encouraged to go to school. Mary remembers
the lengthy discussion which the group had on the importance of education.
After
that particular session, she went straight to her two friends and pleaded
Determined
and unwavering, Mary enrolled in standard 1 of her primary school studies again
in 2013 at the age of 10 and not 6 as is the right age in Malawi. In her class,
there were younger learners than her. She stated that many of them were only six
years old. However, to her, the difference of 4 years is negligible unlike 12
to 6 years.
She
recommenced her studies and took them seriously so much that she is now in
standard 3 and in the last academic term, Mary scooped position number 2 in a class
of over 15 learners. She is very confident that her dream of becoming a secondary school teacher will one day come true.
“I
always get along well with my fellow learners and the age difference is not that
huge unlike if I had started school when I was 12,” said Mary.
She stated that the activities of
Mponda Adolescent Girls Club have tremendously changed her life and she boasts
of being equipped with relevant and age appropriate information about sexual
and reproductive health and rights.
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