Government has stepped up efforts towards elimination of bottlenecks that stand in its way to provide accessible and quality basic education in the country.

Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Martha Chiuluntha Ngwira made the remarks Tuesday in Mzimba, when she visited Ephangweni Model School in Mzimba, block Project, under Malawi Education Sector Improvement Programme (MESIP).

The Minister said government realizes the many challenges primary schools experience which interfere with its commitment to ensure that all learners have equal access to quality education and register sound performance.

“It is the determination of government to ensure that every leaner has easy access to quality education, but this is being weighed down by multiple challenges standing in its way to achieve its objectives,” said Ngwira.

She cited poor or inadequate facilities, both, infrastructure and furniture, lack of sanitary facilities which compromise girl learners’ hygiene, as one of the bottlenecks that negatively affect education standards.

Mzimba District Commissioner (DC), Thomas Chirwa held government for targeting his district with MESIP, which he said has solved some of the problem’s beneficiary schools were facing, which, to a larger extent, were blamed for horrible schools’ mediocre performances.

Chirwa expressed concern that out of the 34 districts in the country, for a number of years, Mzimba has always been the last in primary school performance, which he said was great embarrassment to the people of the district.

“It is my hope that schools which have benefited from MESIP will do well since most of the problems which frustrated learning have been sorted out.” said Chirwa.

Mzimba South district education manager (DEM), Fanwel Chiwowa, said MESIP has two main objectives of reducing repetition rate in lower classes (standard 1 to 4) and to reduce girls’ dropout rate in upper classes (standard 6, 7 and 8).