Malawi’s Ministry of Education has conceded that the current secondary school curriculum is too long such that both teachers and students fail to complete it in most cases yet examinations cover the whole of it.

Principle Secretary in the Ministry Mrs. Anjimile Mtila Oponyo made the observation on Monday in Blantyre at the opening of a week- long Secondary school curriculum review meeting.

Malawi plans to introduce a new syllabus in 2014 to replace the current one which had 26 subjects has been in operation for the past 13 years.

“Me as a teacher by profession, secondary school teachers find it hard to complete the whole syllabus before examinations period because there are a lot of areas to be covered,” said Mtila Oponyo, a sister to President Joyce Banda.

She said it is necessary to review the curriculum to make it manageable by both teachers and students if education standards are to improve but also to be at par with other countries in the African continent.

Malawi Institute of Education director Dr.William Susuwele Banda hopes the new curriculum will be out by September 2014.

The process of reviewing the secondary school curriculum started in 2009.