[{"bbox": [146, 150, 1082, 206], "category": "Text", "text": "5% of GDP. There is little fiscal space for the sector goals to be achieved, especially for rapid expansion of secondary provision."}, {"bbox": [146, 217, 1084, 430], "category": "Text", "text": "**Education equity:** A key concern is that government spending on secondary education does not target the needs of those least able to pay. The financing of various categories of schools in the country is inequitable, with Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) receiving significantly less per capita and in terms of qualified teachers, compared to more privileged schools, creating further barriers for the poor. Funding for schools that are registered as cost centres, flows directly from the Treasury, but for non-cost centre schools funding comes via the Education Division and is lower. While there has been some progress in establishing Boards of Governors (BoG) for secondary schools, they only exist in 24% of secondary schools, and not all of these are functional."}, {"bbox": [146, 441, 1084, 523], "category": "Text", "text": "Given the high cost to families, bursaries play an important role to support the poor to take up places and stay in secondary school. However, the current system lacks clarity, risks overlapping bursary provision and is poorly targeted to those most in need."}, {"bbox": [146, 533, 1084, 721], "category": "Text", "text": "**Teacher Management and Training and Quality Assurance:** Qualified teachers are in short supply, with high pupil-teacher ratios. A significant number of primary teachers have transferred to secondary schools, many of whom do not have the formal level of qualifications to teach at secondary. The lack of a proper Teacher in-service training, professional development and support and quality assurance systems is also a key factor significantly affecting the quality of the teaching and learning. In secondary education pass rates reach only 54% in 2023, with lower results in Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) and with boys performing better than girls."}, {"bbox": [146, 731, 1084, 1052], "category": "Text", "text": "**Gender and Inclusive Education:** Although low completion rates are a big challenge for both boys and girls, fewer girls (20.6%) complete secondary than boys (24%). Reasons for the higher drop-out rate of girls, especially from upper grades in secondary and in rural areas, include the costs, prioritisation of boys in families and the impact of early marriage and pregnancy. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) and harmful practices (HP) remain serious issues with 65% of girls and 35% of boys experiencing child abuse in their lifetime, including in and around schools, between students and at times involving teachers. A particular challenge is the lack of female teachers, only 27% of secondary teachers, with significant variation between districts and urban/rural areas. A low percentage of Special Education Needs (SEN) learners are in secondary schools, and teachers and schools are not well equipped to cater to their needs. In addition 47% of secondary schools and 21% of primary school do not have even basic sanitation facilities, affecting not only learning access but also access to education and enrolment, in particular for young girls because of their menstruation."}, {"bbox": [146, 1062, 1084, 1117], "category": "Text", "text": "**Identification of main stakeholders and corresponding institutional and/or organisational issues (mandates, potential roles, and capacities) to be covered by the Action:**"}, {"bbox": [146, 1127, 1084, 1262], "category": "Text", "text": "The main stakeholder is the Ministry of Education, which is the leading entity responsible for education policy. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) and the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) are also relevant as competent for education financing and human resource policy issues, respectively. The policy dialogue will also include the Ministry of Gender as policy holder for gender equality and social welfare."}, {"bbox": [146, 1273, 669, 1301], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Priority Area 2 – Public Finance Management (PFM)"}, {"bbox": [146, 1312, 1084, 1472], "category": "Text", "text": "The economic governance in Malawi has been affected by a weak Public Finance Management (PFM) system, which together with inadequate policies, has induced low fiscal discipline and high primary deficits. Persistent high fiscal deficits over the years have pushed up debt to unsustainable levels, thereby reducing the fiscal space needed for developmental investments. Weak institutional and human capacity, a poor budget information system and weak budget oversight have been major constraints to the good functioning of the PFM system."}, {"bbox": [146, 1483, 1084, 1565], "category": "Text", "text": "In September 2013, a massive misappropriation and theft of public funds was uncovered, commonly known as the “Cashgate scandal”, which has significantly affected Malawi’s macroeconomic situation and exposed significant deficiencies related to procurement and internal controls and other related PFM"}, {"bbox": [976, 1681, 1082, 1707], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 29"}]