The desire to achieve bright dreams for the four students at Natchengwa Primary School ended with the falling wall that claimed their lives.
A structure that was built out of desperation brought sorrow to the families and nation at large.
Peter Milanzi who lives near Natchengwa Primary school disclosed that the death of the four learners at the school could have been avoided if construction of the shelter was standardized.
“The bricks that were used were not suitable with the type of soil here and the foundation for the shelter was not fit enough to support the building,” said Milanzi.
He added that: “I noted from the beginning that we were to have an accident one day and all that was done due to cheap labour.”
Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) has since faulted government for the negligence that has cost lives of four learners.
Speaking during a tour to the school on Sunday, CSEC Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe blamed government for paying a blind eye to the standards of education.
“Moving forward under circumstances, that communities are mobilizing to provide these structures, you expect government to foster standards.
“If government had played its rightful role, I don’t think it could have approved this structure for students to use it for learning,” said Kondowe in an interview with Malawi24.
He further urged government to be tracking resources allocated to the education sector as one way of averting challenges in the sector.
“For the past years resources through budget allocation to the ministry of education have a provision of adding new classroom blocks, one wonders if the money is used for the intended purpose,” added Kondowe.
As of today, Natchengwa which has 930 learners remains with five classroom blocks that were built with support from Save the Children years back. This depicts shortage of standard and safe classroom blocs.
