Standard Bank Malawi donates learning materials to National Reading Program worth K4m

Standard Bank says it remains committed to collaborate with Government of Malawi in supporting education interventions that will drive the country’s development forward both in short and long term.

The bank’s chief financial officer, Temwani Simwaka, said this at Mponela 2 Primary School in Dowa district when Standard Bank donated supplementary learning materials valued at K4 Million to National Reading Programme (NRP) days ago.

National Reading Programme, which came into effect in September 2016, is a government intervention that aims at improving the reading capability of learners from Standard 1 to 4 by among other, increasing parental and community engagement in supporting a learner’s improvement.

Simwaka observed that for any society to develop, learning – of which reading is a major component- must become easy and accessible through availability of materials.

“Standard bank affirms its commitment to the selected districts that would benefit from this donation. Reading being a critical component for an all-round education we saw the need to support this intervention. Supporting education is a key way to ensuring that we have an impact in our community thereby driving the growth and development of our society,” she said.

Simwaka expressed hope that the bank is hopeful that contacts it has with respective communities will strengthen and benefit all parties involved.

The donated money has been used to print 55,200 copies of supplementary books to be distributed to 176 primary schools in six districts namely Karonga, Mzimba, Kasungu, Dowa, Thyolo and Mwanza.

The programme, which will run up to 2020, is expected to benefit over 6 million learners from Standard 1 to 4 and will at the same time improve the reading instructional skills of well over 50,000 teachers who teach the targeted classes.

Commending Standard Bank for its donation, Director of Basic Education in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Josam Mafuta, said the textbooks and supplementary readers’ books would play a critical role in fostering quality education in the country.

“Enough materials in schools mean learners will be excited and willing to attend classes. As such this donation will go a long way in improving education standards in the country,” he said.

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