Malawi has taken a bold step toward improving education by abolishing tuition, examination, school development, and identity card fees for all public schools, while boarding fees for secondary schools remain in place. President Mutharika, who announced the move, hopes it will boost enrollment and literacy in a country struggling with a primary completion rate of 52 percent and an upper secondary rate of only 4 percent. Experts, however, caution that schools may face financial strains without these fees, which previously supported essential resources. Amid economic challenges and widespread poverty, observers see the policy as a progressive start, emphasizing that transparent governance and resource recovery could sustain free education and offer a genuine pathway out of poverty for Malawi’s youth.
RFI
