Category: High News
Fees for the 2019/2020 Academic Year
NURSERY
| MWK | |
| Baby Class, Toddler Class and Middle Class | 180,000 |
| Day Care | 70,000 |
| Reception | 200,000 |
PRIMARY
| MWK | |
| Standard 1-4 | 290,000 |
| Standard 5-7 | 330,000 |
SPECIAL NEEDS (SEND)
- MWK 350,000
HIGH SCHOOL
(MANEB)
| MWK | |
| Form 1 and 2 | 350,000 |
| Form 3 | 365,000 |
| Form 4 | 385,000 |
CAMBRIDGE
| MWK | |
| Form 1 and 2 | 380,000 |
| Form 3 | 395,000 |
| Form 4 | 500,000 |
| Form 5 | 500,000 |
| Form 6 | 570,000 |
BOARDING
| MWK | |
| Boarding Fees | 320,000 |
| Medical | 50,000 |
| Registration and Admission Fee | 22,000 |
Fees Payment
At least 50% of the school fees should be paid before the commencement of the term. Any balances are to be settled within the 2 Week grace period.
1st Term – 2nd September 2019
2nd Term – 6th January 2019
3rd Term – 14th April for Checkpoint Students and 21st April for the Rest of the school
All fees are payable to the schools account
| BANK | NATIONAL BANK OF MALAWI |
| BRANCH | CAPITAL CITY |
| ACCOUNT NAME | BAMBINO SCHOOL |
| ACCOUNT NUMBER | 1227599 |
All deposit slips and proof of payments should be sent to the school in person or via email (accounts@bambinoschools.org)
High School – End of Term Newsletter
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We have now come to the end of the 3rd Term, in the 2018/2019 Academic year. We hope that you have had a wonderful as well as productive academic year. This term has seen further developments towards academic excellence and we have rounded-up the current academic year with a lot of activities which among others include: public examinations, international trips, the 2018/2019 School leavers graduation and programs geared towards social and well-being of our students.
First of all, we would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation as you have entrusted us with your children/ward for this academic year as well as remitting examination fees, school fees on time and the valuable communication fostered in the various platforms provided and made available.
Term Programs
The 2019 Cambridge Examinations were conducted and concluded on 13th June 2019 and our students were commended for the admirable conduct during this period.
The 2019 MSCE Examinations were also concluded in the month of June, with further commendation for our students who conducted themselves very well.
The 2019 Graduation ceremony was successfully held on 15th June 2019 and was well patronized by parents and guardians though some could not attend due to the distance they had between the city and their location at that time. From the postmortem we conducted, it turned out to be our best event with unqualified success.
The international school trips, i.e. German trip to Ghana; German Student Exchange trip to Germany are currently underway as our student groups have arrived at their destinations and are on course with their schedules. Sadly, we had to cancel the Open trip to Zambia-Zimbabwe-Botswana because of low remittance of funds from parents and we couldn’t facilitate the prior logistics. However, we will have the trip rescheduled for the first term of the next academic year during the mid-term holiday. Please support your child or ward in time so that we can have the trip.
Parents and Teachers Association
We would like to offer our appreciation once again for your unwavering support towards the running of the PTA. As mentioned at the beginning of the term, there is a reliable flow of information through the class “WhatsApp” groups as well as other means as requested by some parents. Let’s continue to support each other through this grouping. We are still updating our system from time to time and would therefore like to request that you forward the latest email address to the class teachers as soon as possible so that we provide you with access to the parents portal in our system where you can access valuable details about your child at the school.
Discipline
As is the case in all schools, discipline at the school is crucial and we have had to expel some students for serious offenses and in line with this, we rolled out a “Code of Conduct” enclosed in the school report packets of Term 2 so that you and your child/ward should have ample time to go through the document and in the end complete the details at the end then return the document to school through the class teachers. If for any reason you have not had the chance to do so, please contact us through your child’s class teacher and request for the copy so that you are well acquainted with it’s contents and append your approval.
We would also like to inform parents to provide your children/wards with the appropriate school uniform, sports kit and ensure that your child/ward is well dressed for school as well as having school standard hair style. Please take advantage of the long break to replenish uniform sets for your child or ward. Our uniform stores is always open during the holidays.
All exercise books are also to be taken care of by covering with a see-through plastic cover with NO scribbling or dirtying so that subject material is easy to follow through and enable easy access to content. Please remind your child or ward that most of the content in the current exercise books will be required in the next academic year as they progress to the next level of their studies.
School Fees
School fees are to be completed on time, i.e. by the end of the 2nd month in a term. As per school policy, after the 20th of a month, fee checking commences. For those who are on the fee payment plan, we urge you to honor our agreement, and most importantly for those who can manage to do so, please pay fees in advance. For those who are yet to complete fees payment due to some unforeseen circumstances, we urge you to do so as soon as possible and if there are any discrepancies or there is a need to reconcile payments, our accounts office is always ready to assist using your remittances and receipts or bank transfer confirmation.
After Management held consultative meetings, it has been resolved that school fees be adjusted upwards with a view to cater for rising inflation as well as incorporating examination fees, spread over a longer period of a child’s progression leading to the Exam year so that we overcome the current burden faced by both parents and the school in collecting school fees and exam fees, as a large chunk. This has already been tried and tested in the MANEB stream and for the past years, it has worked to everyone’s benefit. The fees structure from September 2019 will be as follows:
MANEB CLASSES
| Form 1 and 2 | 350,000 |
| Form 3 | 365,000 |
| Form 4 | 385,000 |
CAMBRIDGE CLASSES
| Form 1 and 2 | 380,000 |
| Form 3 | 395,000 |
| Form 4 | 500,000 |
| Form 5 | 500,000 |
| Form 6 | 570,000 |
Much appreciation goes to the parents/guardians who have since paid fees in advance for 3rd Term.
All fees must be deposited into the school fees account. Below are the details:
| Account Name | Bambino Schools |
| Account Number | 1227599 |
| Bank | National Bank |
| Branch | Capital City |
| Fax | 01761372 |
| admin@bambinoschool.org secondary@bambinoschool.org |
Remember to send the deposit slip, remittance or bank transfer details to our Accounts Office in person, through fax or email.
Be reminded that the ‘fee payment plan’ is an official scheme for which you have to apply in person and upon approval, you would be taken through completing the documentation and we will thus honor our agreement as per ‘fee payment plan’. Deciding to defer payment unilaterally does not qualify being on a ‘fee payment plan’ neither does sending word of mouth nor a note to the school through a student.
2019 IGCSE/A LEVEL October/November Examinations
The window for remitting examination fees opened on 15th May 2019 and will close on 10th August 2019. If you have a student scheduled or wishing to sit for examinations during this session, please request a letter giving a quote of the exam fees and payment details from the Head-teacher’s office as soon as possible. After the closing date, late entry fees apply on top of each subject fee.
All students who are sitting for a selected number of subjects during the 2019 May/June session are expected back in class as we open the next term on 2nd September 2019. Please be reminded that this is a requirement for internal candidates sitting for exams at Cambridge Centres and if your child or ward does not turn up, we will make that student an external candidate.
Communication
All communication should be made through our normal and official channels, official phone number; office bearer’s personal phone number; class “WhatsApp” groups; class teacher’s personal phone number; email: secondary@bambinoschools.org; verbally and in writing. Let us inform one another of absences and let us timely communicate alterations to normal schedules so that we lessen disruption to school related activities. We thank all parents who continually use the official channels to communicate with the school and the curtesy you have afforded us in doing so.
We look forward to serving you in the next academic year of 2010/2020. Please remember that our offices remain open during the holidays and we are available to attend to queries and facilitations.
| R. THOM | D. PHIRI |
| DEPUTY HEADTEACHER ADMINISTRATION | DEPUTY HEADTEACHER ACADEMICS |
BOARDING SECTION NEWS LETTER – TERM 3
Dear Parents/Guardians
Greetings to you all our dear parents and guardians. We hope this letter finds you in a sound health state. Term 3 as well as the academic year 2018 / 2019 has come to an end. As usual, we do not take your support and trust for granted. You have allowed us yet another term and year to be take care of your wards. We believe we have done our best and still hope to continue doing all we can to help them grow up responsible and independent beings. Bambino boarding is and shall remain A HOME AWAY FROM HOME.
Besides just staying with your wards day in day out and encouraging them to study and make progress academically, the boarding section organizes extra activities to keep the children entertained and well exposed to the world around them. The children learn how make their own beds, clean their own utensils and wash their own clothes. They also learn how to manage their own finances and little resources like the snacks you buy them. We also have time to do sporting activities, watch movies or go out for special trips. Thank you to all the parents who supported our field trip to Liwonde National park at the end of term 1. The school’s management has now set us a policy that boarding students should be having such outings in term 1 annually to avoid colliding with those organized in the academic sections in terms 2 and 3.
This year we have seen more and more of our boarding students excelling outstandingly in various respects of the school life. For example; the following students were among the top 3 of their classes in academic performances:
| Name | Class | |
| 1 | Samuel Kasamile | Form 5 |
| 2 | Panashe Bell Kawalewale | Form 5 |
| 3 | Bramwell Musyimi | Form 4A |
| 4 | Jonathan Nyirenda | Form 4A |
| 5 | Silvia Williams | Form 2A |
| 6 | Nthambi Bokosi | Form 2A |
| 7 | Grace Williams | Standard 6N |
| 8 | Deborah Bonga | Standard 5 |
Thank you again for visiting your wards on the specifically set dates. Most of you came only on these set visiting days. Of course we would still like to appeal to a few of you who still seem to have doubts in the abilities of your wards’ ability to be independent and responsible beings. Your frequent visits may not help your wards much in these respects.
The school continues to do character development activities which we would like to encourage you to share with your wards what they usually learn during morning devotional assemblies and on Sundays’ joint devotional meetings.
We would also like to remind you that our school policy says ALL BOARDING FEES MUST BE PAID UP BY THE TIME YOUR WARD COMES BACK TO SCHOOL. No fees no entry into the hostels. So please, let’s start now to think of preparing for or even paying our wards’ boarding fees so that when it’s time for their return, you would avoid the inconveniences that may arise if you have to be sent back.
We would also like to remind you of our basic uniform requirements; each child is expected to have at least two sets of these. This helps your ward to be able to wash one set everyday but be able to go to school proper attire the following day. Your wards are also expected to have their own cup, plate, spoon, fork for use in the dining.
Announcements
- School closes on 19th July 2019 and will reopen on 2nd September 2019. Boarders will be expected to return on the 1st of September 2019 by or before 1700. Please let’s observe these times to avoid inconveniences. If you cannot make it on the Sunday you will risk being asked to bring your ward the following Sunday since arrival of boarders shall, from now onwards be monitored by more teaching staff members in addition to our normal boarding personnel so we do not want to disturb these teachers during the week days.
- Fees shall, effective 1st September 2019, be as follows:
Nursery
| Baby Class, Toddler Class and Middle Class | 180,000 |
| Day Care | 70,000 |
| Reception | 200,000 |
PRIMARY
| Standard 1-4 | 290,000 |
| Standard 5-7 | 330,000 |
SPECIAL NEEDS (SEND)
- 350,000
HIGH SCHOOL
(MANEB)
| Form 1 and 2 | 350,000 |
| Form 3 | 365,000 |
| Form 4 | 385,000 |
(Cambridge)
| Form 1 and 2 | 380,000 |
| Form 3 | 395,000 |
| Form 4 | 500,000 |
| Form 5 | 500,000 |
| Form 6 | 570,000 |
BOARDING FEES
- 320,000
- Medical 50,000
- Registration and Admission Fee 22,000
- We believe some of you had heard that we were planning to introduce a students’ phone access over weekends. After consulting with you through our questionnaire, we have noted that the majority of you are not for this idea. Therefore, the school management have decided not to implement this policy. This, therefore, entails that your wards are not allowed to bring and keep phones in the hostels. We understand that some of the children travel long distances on their own and there may be need to be communicating with them on their way to or from school. We ask you to encourage them to surrender their phones as soon as they arrive at the hostels. We will keep the phones and give them back when the need arises or at the end of the term. If they are discovered to be keeping the phone in the hostels at any time, the phone shall be confiscated.
- There shall be summer classes for the primary school from 29th July 2019 to 23rd August 2019. This will cost mk35,000 and shall be payable on registration
Once again, our valued and dear parent, we would like to wish you all the best with you wards during this long holiday.
| S. Kanjala | F. Mzungu |
| Boarding Master | Matron |
Peace Run 2019
Bambino Primary School was privileged to participate in the 2019 Peace Run-a worldwide initiative to share and celebrate peace in the 44 counties that are in the Southern Hemisphere. The theme of the peace run was Peace begins with me, Peace begins with us. Bambino Primary was among three schools in Lilongwe selected for this Peace Run and there was no better event and occasion than this one to resonate on our Character Development Program which is centered on a broad number of virtues which all have a bearing on peace and harmony among people and Nations. The interviews done by the head teacher and standard 7 learners all emphasized on what we could do together as one united family and people to promote peace and unity. The school pledged to continue with its endeavors to promote peace and harmony through its various programs that include sports, clubs, service projects and the classroom activities. It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm by both teachers and learners on this day and are hopeful that the message has been taken home and parents will lead from the front in promoting peace in the family set up.
Peace Run Summary
- A Lap run by international team and Bambino teachers.
- A presentation on the rationale behind the Peace Run by the international team.
- A game to guess where some of the participants were coming from[countries].
- Holding of the torch by all learners and teachers.
- Interviews Zodiac TV –The head teacher, Sheena Fulutuna and Oswald Mtupira.
Learners and teachers holding the torch, which symbolizes a commitment to make the world a peaceful place to live in.
**Look out for the program which is going to be aired on Zodiac TV on a date to be announced. The activities that took place can also be accessed on this link:
25 Years Anniversary
Hello and Welcome,
Last year (2018), Bambino Schools celebrated 25 years of existence. Below is our digital magazine that highlights the ceremony of remembering the story of Bambino Schools and its achievements. Another way to viewing or downloading the PDF version of the magazine is by clicking here.
Boarding Section Calendar of Events
We got a new calendar of event for the boarding section. To view it please click here.
Term 1 2018/2019 Bambino High School Newsletter
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Welcome to the new academic year 2018/2019. With your commitment, by sending your child/ward to Bambino High School, we are assured that we are together in the quest of providing quality education. Bambino High School is a reputable market leader in secondary education. We feel honored that after a long and interactive holiday you have had with your children/wards, you have entrusted their education with us in this new academic year.
First of all, it pleased the Management/Directors of Bambino Pvt. Schools to appoint us as the new High School Administrators as follows:
- Mr. R. Thom, Deputy Headteacher Administration.
- Mr. D. Phiri, Deputy Headteacher Academics.
Notably, we would like to share with you outstanding examination results in the 2018 May/June Cambridge examination session:
CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY CHECKPOINT EXAMINATION RESULTS
The Form 1 students who have joined us from our feeder primary school, Bambino Primary School have done extremely well with individual performance being noted as follows:
| SCORES | 5.0-6.0 | 4.0-4.9 | 3.0-3.9 | 2.0-2.9 | TOTAL PASS | 1.0-1.9 | 0.0-0.9 | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MATHS | 4 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 29 | 10 | 6 | 45 |
| ENGLISH | 14 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 42 | 3 | 0 | 45 |
| SCIENCE | 12 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 42 | 2 | 1 | 45 |
| TOTAL | 30 | 22 | 36 | 25 | 15 | 7 | 45 |
CAMBRIDGE IGCSE EXAMINATION RESULTS
Part of our 2017/18 graduating class produced outstanding results which have proved to be competitive amongst the top performing students in Malawi with several students surpassing our expectations and passing with distinctions and to that effect, our best had the following outstanding set of results :
The overall performance is summarized below which gives a reflection of yet another milestone in Bambino High School’s achievements paving way for even greater things to come:
| A* | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | U | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACCOUNTING | – | – | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – |
| BIOLOGY | – | 2 | 3 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| BUSINESS STUDIES | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | – | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| CHEMISTRY | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2 | – | – |
| ENGLISH 2nd | – | 4 | 13 | 7 | 8 | – | – | – | 3 |
| ENGLISH 1st | – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| FRENCH | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – |
| GEOGRAPHY | 1 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | – |
| HISTORY | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | 1 |
| ICT | – | 1 | – | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| MATHEMATICS | 1 | – | 2 | 11 | 8 | 9 | – | – | 2 |
| PHYSICS | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| TOTAL | 5 | 13 | 46 | 70 | 41 | 45 | 24 | 5 | 13 |
As it has been communicated to you in previous communication modes, the next Cambridge IGCSE and A Level examination session is October/November 2018 and registration closed on 10th August 2018. We are thus in the late entry period which attracts a penalty fee. If you wish to have your child/ward sit for Cambridge examinations in the coming session, please make swift arrangements with us before 21st September 2018.
VICTORIA FALLS TRIP
At the end of last academic year, the high school organized an open school trip to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe which was duly executed with very positive response both from students and a parent who accompanied the students. From the reviews we received, the trip was a great success. For the end of 2018/19 academic year trip, we are assured of a larger number as most of you, parents/guardians have expressed interest in taking part in the coming trips.
2018/19 ACADEMIC YEAR
The term has started off in earnest with plans and goals laid out in the section coupled with key changes to the infrastructure and the academics:
- INFRASTRUCTURE
- Bambino High School has moved a step higher towards providing education of a high standard with renovations taking place in all classrooms. As such, our classes are now fitted with whiteboards and new furniture, i.e. desks, to create a conducive learning atmosphere.We have also received a new consignment of textbooks from our suppliers which will complement the available stocks and provide more learning resources. In light of this development, we now have a qualified Librarian to handle our library services and assist learners through research in our available resource books and online library system being put in place.
- ACADEMICS
- As a way of re-enforcing the learning process and accommodating learners of different potentials and abilities, we have introduced new subjects and are also in the process of preparing learners’ space for innovative subjects. In the meantime, we have introduced Physical Education, a Cambridge examinable subject at IGCSE, hence it has started at Form 4A level as all other junior classes in the ‘A’ stream prepare for it through the mandatory one lesson a week in Physical Education.In line with our goal of improving results further, we have also introduced Cambridge IGCSE Agriculture at Form 4A level. On this key introduction, all students in the class are undergoing lessons in the subject and will sit for their exams in October/November of 2019 thereby giving parents/guardians and learners a feel of the examination process based on this one subject which should in turn give a reflection of the follow up progress in the May/June 2020 exams as results will be available in January 2020.For the new academic year, there are materials students will need and a comprehensive list was circulated on our ‘WhatsApp groups’ which is available at the school. Please procure these items for your child/ward so that learning is facilitated as expected.
- TERM 1 CALENDAR
- This term is a very busy and demanding term as we have a number of notable events lined up apart from those already mentioned:
-
DATE EVENT 3rdSeptember 2018 Boarders arrival. 4thSeptember 2018 Term 1 opens. 8thSeptember 2018 Start of Boarding Remedial lessons. 20thSeptember 2018 Science Field Trip (To be confirmed). 3rdOctober 2018 Marimba Band performance at German Embassy. 8thOctober 2018 Cambridge October/November Exam Sessions begins. Mid-term examinations week. 15th – 21stOctober 2018 Mid-term holiday. 22nd – 28thOctober 2018 German Student Exchange visit (7 students). 27th October 2018 Silver Jubilee Celebrations (To be confirmed). 3rd November 2018 Boarding Parents Meeting (2pm – 3pm) 9th – 10th November 2018 School Baha’i Holiday 28th November 2018 End of Term 1 Examinations begin. 3rd – 6th December 2018 Academic and Extra-curricular presentations. 7th December 2018 Closing assembly, report distribution/consultation
- FEES STRUCTURE
-
-
- At the end of last academic year, we revised our fee structures as follows:
-
CURRICULUM CLASS OLD FEE NEW FEE Cambridge Form 1A & 2A K300,000.00 K315,000.00 Form 3A & 4A K320,000.00 K335,000.00 Form 5 K340,000.00 K355,000.00 Form 6 K360,000.00 K375,000.00 MANEB Form 1B & 2B K275,000.00 K290,000.00 Form 3B & 4B K290,000.00 K300,000.00 Boarding All classes K300,000.00 K300,000.00 - All new students are expected to pay the full school fees upon acceptance into the school. For returning students, the school encourages parents to pay all fees on or before the first day of the term. However, for those who might not have done so, please be advised that the grace period for the fees ends on 14th September 2018. In line with our policy, we encourage parents to contact the administration on ‘fee payment plan’ if there are constraints being experienced in paying fees on time, i.e. let us not create a fee plan unilaterally but in accompaniment and with the right documentation.
- All fees must be deposited into the school account. Below are the details:
-
Account Name Bambino Schools Account Number 1227599 Bank National Bank Branch Capital City Fax 01761372 Email admin@bambinoschool.org Remember to bring or send the deposit slip to our Accounts Office personally or by fax or email.
- Uniform
We encourage all our learners to be in our school colors every day with appropriate sports uniform for Tuesday afternoon (standard white shorts – with an option of plain white/black tights for girls under the shorts, Bambino white sports t-shirt – or a plain white t-shirt as you await supply, with predominantly white sports shoes and plain white socks). On Thursday afternoon we have House Activities and students are expected to buy a house color t-shirt which will be communicated in due course.
-
-
- TERM 1 WEEKDAY PROGRAM
-
DAY 0700 -0720 730 – 0810 730 – 1010 040 – 1320 1420 – 1600 Monday Assembly Lessons Lessons Lessons Lessons Tuesday Arrival Lessons Lessons Lessons School sports Wednesday Arrival Lessons Lessons Lessons Service Projects Thursday Arrival Lessons Lessons Lessons Clubs or Houses Friday Arrival Lessons Lessons Lessons Lesson (1320-1400) - On arrival at school, students are to go straight to class where they will have registration from 0720 up to 0730. Students who report late for lessons will have to be at the waiting bay and there will be a member of staff to handle late comers, and they will only be allowed into class after the end of the lesson at that time so that lessons are not disturbed. At the end of the day, pick up time is between 1600 and 1630. After 1630, remaining students will be supervised at the waiting bay. Please communicate if you are running late for pick up.
-
Should there be any queries of clarification, please feel free to visit the school administration or give us a call on our ground lines and/or our direct lines 0993364715 and 0999304419.
Bambino Schools Magazine
We got a new magazine for Bambino Schools. to view it please click here
A Baha’i Serving the Children of Malawi
Maina Mkandawire, 59 years old, became a teacher soon after she left the University of Malawi as a young woman. “My first responsibility was to build a house for my parents,” she tells me, “[because] all they could do was educate us.” Teaching was going to help pay the bills.
“Then you have to educate your own kids,” says Maina, who is a member of the Baha’i community here. She and her husband, Justin, have adopted two children, adding to their original three. She also supported her own siblings in the early years. “It means that, by the time you retire, you don’t have your own house.” But she says all this with a lightness, without any sense of an edge; these are just the facts of life.
Maina may not have her own house, but she does have her own school. Bambinos opened in 1993 with a pre-school; later, it added a secondary school and, together, they now have about 800 students. The playing field looks large enough to host a World Cup final, and the half-dozen school blocks are arranged neatly along paths decorated with flowers, trees and murals.
Maina and her colleagues even opened a new university, the University of Lilongwe, during the last year. She has a simple explanation for why she takes on more demands in life: “I wanted to do something for the people.”
Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, had few pre-schools in the early 1990s. Those that existed were “play schools,” with little educational substance. Bambinos was meant to be a place where “moral education and material education go hand-in-hand,” Maina tells me. And while Maina is a Baha’i, the school is secular. She says it is based on the “universal values expressed in Baha’i teachings,” but is not religious.
From Deep-frying to Deep thinking
Building the school took time. Maina had a few side jobs in the early years of her teaching career to earn extra money. She reared chickens, for example, and sold donuts. “My best business was making donuts,” Maina says. “It gave me the capital to build a nursery school. And it’s how I paid for teachers.”
The donuts helped. But Maina needed land and a building. She asked a local bank for a loan; the bank said no. Maina is sure that the refusal was because it was a woman who was asking. “Women can do things on their own … that needs to be acknowledged,” she says.
Justin, her husband, cajoled the local bank. It still refused, so Justin took his case to headquarters. Bank executives later visited Maina’s school, making a secret inspection, and were so impressed that they finally granted the loan and offered an open line of credit. Maina then found a government-owned plot of land that was allocated for education, and bought them out – for all of US$20. Bambinos was becoming real.
Going Far by Going Slow
In 1994, Malawi made primary education free. This boosted enrolment from 1.6 million children to 3 million. But the country was unprepared for such an increase. Teaching capacity, infrastructure, and even hygiene have all been compromised over the past 20 years because of the explosion in primary-age school children. Many village pre-schools operate with no funding and their teachers work for free. The schools have few basic resources and the children are sometimes under-nourished.
“There were no qualified teachers for the extra children,” Maina says. “The education system just went down. You could have people finishing high school but unable to speak English or even converse. It was a political statement – it didn’t have anything to do with education.”
The UN Development Programme says that Malawian children have a scholastic career of 10.8 years; in Iran, it’s 14.8 years, and in Canada the average duration of schooling is 16.3 years. Malawi’s primary school dropout rate is 50.9 percent and more than half of pre-teen children in Malawi leave school before finishing primary education. Only about eight percent of secondary students finish their studies.
Maina’s approach to Bambinos was defined by a more gradual approach – contrasting sharply with the government’s 1994 blitz. And completion of one’s education at Bambinos, for both primary and secondary students, girls and boys, is almost total.
According to Maina, student-to-teacher ratios at many free schools are extreme, with sometimes up to 100 students per teacher. At Bambinos, the average is 25 students to every teacher. And while Bambinos is not free, it is also not expensive. Working families, including farmers and other small business owners, can afford its fees.
“As you go forward,” Maina says, “you learn how to proceed, finding the right resources to support your next classes, and so on … You’re going with experience rather than just growing too big [too fast].”
Bambinos also offers its teachers extra training and other benefits: not only 50 percent discounted fees for their own children, but a pension scheme, funeral cover, and other benefits.
Part of Maina’s work at Bambinos involves “capacity-building.” The term is familiar to anyone working in development – and it is hardly controversial to say that the phrase is understood far less than it is used. But Maina says that when she uses the term, it means: “trying to help people live up to the responsibility you have given them.”
The vision, for Maina, was to train teachers who see their work “as a service,” and to cultivate students “who are excellent in character” as well as academically strong.
Intelligence Plus Character
Maina’s school resonated for me, deep in the “warm heart of Africa,” because it reminded me of Baha’i initiatives in 1930s Iran.
The Tarbiyat schools, opened by Baha’is during Reza Shah’s reign, were among the first modern schools to open in Iran and were soon seen as the best. The Persian word “tarbiyat” itself means “character,” and the schools became famous for attracting families beyond the Baha’i community – including the children of ministers and diplomats. (Bambinos, too, has at least one daughter of diplomats in its ranks.)
Maina is an educational pioneer in Malawi – and a part of her efforts is rooted in the early history of the Baha’is in Iran. But how does she regard her own efforts? “We are so rich,” Maina says. “We started with nothing but a positive mind and a vision of where we wanted to go. You do your best with it.” And as her students move between their classes, I can see Maina’s “best” running and laughing all around me.