Population growth, low school enrolment hamper Malawi’s development

Malawi’s development endeavours are yielding low due to an alarming population growth and low school enrolment at primary and secondary levels, the World Bank says.

The country is struggling to satisfy the aforementioned indicators of human development and it has been predicted that the situation may get worse in the next decade if measures are not taken to avert the situation.

According to the World Bank, Malawi’s young and growing population is expected to reach 24.2 million by 2025. This is owed to early pregnancies and early marriages among other factors.

Malawi’s population is currently estimated to be 17 million. The World Bank says, the country is the most densely populated country in Southern Africa.

As a result, people scramble for limited resources and in the end minimal or zero progress being the outcome of development efforts.
However, the global economic institution proposes the eradication of early marriages and reduction in early pregnancies, if population growth is to be controlled.

This is argued to be achieved through improved access to health commodities. The government is working in collaboration with its development partners, IDA, DfID and UNICEF, in negating the state of affairs for the better.

The education sector suffers in form of low primary and secondary school enrolment. Despite the free primary education, only 55 percent of boys and 45 percent of girls finish school at that level. Secondary school records a lower gross enrolment rate of 17 percent with fewer girls than boys, according to the universal bank.

In the education sector, the government is addressing the problems at hand by; increasing accountability through providing grants to schools, reduction of the rural urban disparity in pupil teacher ratio and promoting double shifting among others.