[{"bbox": [143, 106, 1086, 400], "category": "Text", "text": "The Education Act (2012) and the National Education Sector Plan 2008-2020 (NESP) recognise education as a catalyst for socio-economic and sustainable development and place special emphasis on the expansion and improvement of secondary education with a focus on increased female enrolment. The NESP asserts that the education system should be responsive to the social, economic and environmental needs of Malawi, hence their integration in the national curriculum at basic and secondary levels. Preparations for a successor sector plan – National Education Sector Implementation Plan (NESIP) 2020-2030 have started. As little was achieved in implementation of NESP, preliminary consultations on the NESIP are recommending a ‘reforms’ approach to addressing the challenges in education. Already identified is the need for mechanisms to ensure continuity in participation of poor learners and a revision of current governance structures for improved oversight in teacher continuous professional development, quality assurance and performance management."}, {"bbox": [143, 411, 1086, 647], "category": "Text", "text": "The National Strategy for Teacher Education and Development (NSTED 2007-2017) aimed to address challenges including the low output of teachers from teacher training institutions and inadequate continuing professional teacher development support for teachers. A review of this strategy recommends use of multiple modes of delivery for pre-service teacher training. The Continuous Professional Development (CPD) policy and framework for teachers aim at improving the quality of teaching and learning. The framework encourages CPD trainings at cluster and school based levels. The cluster system¹¹, though established in 2000, has not been systematically functioning. However, it is key to respond to both decentralisation aspects of schools and improving the quality of delivery of education in schools."}, {"bbox": [143, 661, 1086, 819], "category": "Text", "text": "The National Girls’ Education Strategy 2018-2023 (NGES) provides the guiding framework for quality girls’ education informed by gender and human rights perspectives. It also guides programming, resource mobilization, allocation, reporting, and coordination. The National Strategy on Inclusive Education 2017-2021 (NIES) expresses Malawi’s commitment to promoting equitable access to relevant and quality education at all levels for children living in vulnerable situations, including those with disabilities."}, {"bbox": [143, 834, 1086, 1097], "category": "Text", "text": "The Education Decentralisation Plan (2014) envisages the establishment of functional structures at district, cluster and school level for the improvement of services as a measure of better learning outcomes. A draft roadmap for secondary education decentralisation has been developed to guide the process of decentralising secondary education. It is envisaged that the reform will improve capacity to deliver needs-based quality services, strengthen leadership, effectiveness and efficiency, and also accountability of the system. The decentralisation process will enhance the ‘within-school’ and ‘close-to-school’ governance structures, thus strengthening the quality assurance mechanism. It also foresees the introduction of Secondary School Improvement Plans (SSIP); as a whole school plan to improve learning outcomes and welfare of students, including CPD, human and financial management of resources."}, {"bbox": [143, 1111, 1086, 1215], "category": "Text", "text": "Moreover, Malawi has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, that form a platform for enshrining equal rights to education and skills development for all."}, {"bbox": [143, 1230, 408, 1257], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 1.4 Stakeholder analysis"}, {"bbox": [143, 1270, 1086, 1482], "category": "Text", "text": "The main duty-bearer of the action is the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), which is responsible for primary, secondary, higher education and teacher training. The main partners in the ministry are the Directorates of a) Secondary and Distance Education, b) Education Planning, which includes Education Infrastructure Management Unit (EIMU) Inspectorate and Advisory Services (DIAS), and c) Teacher Education. The Malawi Institute of Education (MIE), under MoEST, has responsibility for all aspects related to national education curricula, and approval of textbooks and other instructional materials. The inclusion of other relevant ministries¹² is important to ensure that ISEM II is comprehensively addressing the challenges."}, {"bbox": [143, 1566, 1085, 1612], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ Cluster system brings secondary schools, both public and private, within a close proximity, into groups for exchange, peer support, and sharing of resources available to the schools. The best resourced schools are assigned as cluster leaders."}, {"bbox": [143, 1612, 1085, 1658], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Irrigation Development (WASH Department)."}, {"bbox": [608, 1676, 622, 1696], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "5"}]