Government through the Ministry of Education says Malawi’s education sector needs K86 billion to recover from the effects of Cyclone Freddy.
Minister responsible, Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima said this in Chikwawa district during the launch of the ‘Bank to School Campaign’.
Wirima said government alone can not manage to raise the funds needed for the recovery hence the need for concerted effort in mobilising the funds
“In order to recover from these effects, we need more than US$80,296,573.91. Let me call for unity and solidarity in sharing the cost of recovery. No single entity will be able to meet this need. The Ministry of Education alone cannot manage to recover from the disaster effects,” she said.
Wirima further highlighted that Cyclone Freddy caused huge damage on infrastructure, whereby 72 classrooms, 87 teachers houses and over 980 WASH facilities were fully destroyed, while 460 classrooms, 423 teachers houses, 542 WASH facilities were partially destroyed, requiring reconstruction and rehabilitation respectively.
She added that there is need to ensure that the reconstruction is of high quality in order to avoid damages in case of future disasters.
On his part, Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi, Ingrid Mikelsen said the government of Norway will continue supporting Malawi through the education sector.
Meanwhile, UNICEF through the Royal Norwegian Embassy has donated 45,000 school bags comprising of 5 notebooks, 2 pens, 2 pencils and a ruler.
The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report of 2023, indicates that the total value of the effects (damages and losses) in the education sector is estimated at US$ 42,087,535.26.
