All is set for Why Wait Quiz Competition

Everything is set to ensure that the Why Wait quiz competition is done before the end of the academic year in July. In view of this, the Executive Director of FLAEM met the Primary Education Advisors (PEAs) who are the responsible Education officers for the zones in which Why Wait is being implemented. The meeting was very successful because all the officers committed themselves to ensuring that the quiz is managed in a professional way. The PEAs will oversee and take charge of the quiz in their zones and come up with a school that will be the zonal winner. The four winning schools will compete at the district level to come up with the district winner (school).

FLEAM is excited that the PEAs have accepted the responsibility of running the quiz in their zones. This will ensure sustainability of the exercise. The zonal winners as well as district champions will be given presents. Three pupils from each school will participate in the competition (one pupil from each class – 5 to 7).

When the Executive Director met the District Education Manager, Mr. Gossam Mafuta, to give him a report of the meeting with the PEAs, Mr. Mafuta was very excited that this exercise will commence in the district. He requested FLAEM to consider including questions from other Life Skills subjects that are taught in the schools. Mr. Mafuta has committed himself to get involved in ensuring that the quiz runs smoothly. This is a big opportunity for FLAEM. For the competition to be meaningful, we need some good presents that will motivate the learners to want to take part. We kindly ask for cash donations to help us acquire the presents.

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The photo shows the Primary Education Advisors for the four zones where FLAEM is implementing Why Wait. (From left to right: Jimmy Villiera – Chambe Zone, Cryton Malinda – Ulomgwe Zone, Witness Lipenga – Maveya Zone and Fanuel Mandala – Namphungo Zone)

Girls outsmart boys in Why Wait

Why Wait is helping girls to realize that they can do as well as boys proving the belief that girls can not perform as well as boys in class. The teaching that everyone is special and unique is working miracles. In this photo taken from Mulanje Mission CCAP School, the four girls and one boy were the best in answering questions on previous Why Wait lessons. This was during a supervisory visit by FLAEM Executive Director, Lloyd Khanyanga. The learners were given a pen and exercise book each as a present for their performance. The gentle man standing with them is the school’s head (he has been promoted to the position of Inspector of Schools and should be leaving the school anytime to pick up his new post.

SAM_5539FLAEM would appreciate your support for us to be able to buy more presents for the learners to be given during the visits to encourage the learners. No amount will be too small for this purpose. Please contact us to on how to give your support.

Supervisory visit

This boy is recalling some of the topics that his class has covered in standard 5 at Maveya Primary School. This was a revision session during a supervisory visit by FLAEM staff.

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Time for relaxing

Although Why Wait training sessions are busy and tightly scheduled, there is time for relaxing. Here teachers are relaxing over a bottle and snack. Teachers who did not know each other before develop new relationships.

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Why Wait refresher courses for teachers

Why Wait refresher courses for teachers are very interactive. The courses are designed in such a way that as many teachers as possible participate in all activities. This is to train the teachers to do the same when presenting the lessons to the learners in their classes. It is always amazing to see the teachers humble themselves to role play different scenarios.

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The photo shows head teacher for one of the schools (standing left) and assistant Primary Education Advisor (in suit) role play at the training at Maveya.

Lead the leaders to explore

One of the steps in the teaching of Why Wait is to lead the learners to explore. To ensure that the teachers include this step in their
lesson plans, during the training the teachers demonstrate and  exploration exercise where they pretend to be using a telescope to be
looking at far away things (yes exploring). Teachers of Maveya Zone  are here seen demonstrating the exploration exercise.

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The exploration step in the teaching is very important because Why  Wait challenges learners to discover certain important things on their
own. The teacher’s role is to guide the learners to such discoveries.  This helps in developing confidence in the learners in that they can
discover some important things on their own.

Refresher courses for Why Wait teachers

FLAEM believes in quality. Because of this belief, every year FLAEM organises refresher courses for the teachers who teach WHY WAIT in the schools where the project is being implemented. The refresher courses give the teachers from the different schools an opportunity to come together and share their experiences, challenges and successes in the implementation of the project. In addition to this, FLAEM staff has the opportunity to interact with the teachers as a group (usually FLAEM staff meet teachers in their schools during supervisory visits).

This year teachers from Chambe Zone had their refresher course from 22 to 23 December, 2015. The course attracted 84 teachers from thirteen schools in the zone. In addition to refreshing those who had the opportunity to be trained in the past, some new teachers were also formally oriented.

At the end of the course the teachers were very grateful for the opportunity to be refreshed and oriented. The teachers re-committed themselves to doing all they can to ensure that the WHY WAIT
activities are implemented accordingly. The two Primary Education Advisors who attended the course, William Namakhula, and Jimmy Viliera, promised to continue supporting FLAEM.

FLAEM is looking for more funds to run more refresher courses. Please support us by adopting a school.

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Participants to the refresher course.

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SWOT analysis was one of the topics during the course.

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One of the groups doing a SWOT analysis.

 

Mulanje District Education Manager re-commits himself to supporting WHY WAIT activities

The District Education Manager for Mulanje, Mr. Gossam Mafuta, has  recommitted to giving full support of the WHY WAIT activities. Mr. Mafuta made the commitment when Lloyd Khanyanga, Executive Director of FLAEM had a meeting with him. The aim of the meeting was to brief him on the work of FLAEM for the past academic year and also the plans that FLAEM has for the new academic year.

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During the meeting, Mr. Mafuta expressed satisfaction with the work of FLAEM in the schools in Mulanje. He said that WHY WAIT is not only  helping the learners but teachers too. He mentioned the fact that in the schools where FLAEM is working indiscipline cases for both learners and teachers have gone down tremendously.  He further said that by training teachers who in turn teach the learners, FLAEM is using the best approach because the teachers will always be there even if FLAEM left.  Mr. Mafuta also said that the moral aspect of the WHY WAIT approach helps the learner to get both education and wisdom.

While satisfied with the work in the four zones of the district, Mr. Mafuta had one plea. He really wished FLAEM was able to reach out to all the thirteen zones in the district. He said this would ensure that all learners and teachers in the district “speak the same language”. We hope that the Lord will move you to respond accordingly to this plea by joining those who are supporting FLAEM.

Mr. Mafuta is a seasoned educationist and for him to make these strong statements, we know he is really impressed and satisfied with the WHY WAIT programme. Please adopt a school to help make this dream a reality.

Social responsibility

As part of their social responsibility, Why Wait learners take part in different activities aimed at assisting the community. The aim of such activities is to ensure that the learners develop a spirit of helping others. Learners at Ngolowela took part is cleaning Ngolowela Health Post. The activities included sweeping around the post, mopping and digging a rubbish pit.
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In the photo, the head teacher, Paul Mbendera, is sweeping with the learners at the health post.

Why Wait is attracting media attention

Why Wait Programme is attracting the attention of many institutions. One of such institutions is the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (the national broadcasting house in Malawi). The attraction comes because of the unique content and approach of the curriculum.

SAM_4687In this photo, Yapatula Nyirenda, Head of Christian Programmes at Malawi Broadcasting Corporation is seen recording a programme with the Why Wait learners at Ngolowela Junior Primary School.