Malawi Institute of Education is set to incorporate the innovative approach of tablet-based learning into its primary curriculum review. This decision follows a meeting between MIE leadership and the Building Education Foundations through Innovation Technology (BEFIT) programme team, where the successful implementation of the BEFIT programme was discussed.
BEFIT programme, which was first tried at Biwi Primary School in Lilongwe in 2013, emanated from research findings that Malawi was not doing well in literacy and numeracy. Throughout these years, almost 250 schools have benefited from this programme, and they are registering a number of improvements in school performance by the learners in the lower classes. ”Most learners are being motivated to learn using the tablets, and this has also improved learner’s attention and behaviour”, stated one of the Teachers at Chikamveka during the visit to appreciate how the tablets are being used at the school.
In his remarks, the Chairperson for the BEFIT Team, Dr Joshua Valeta, who is the Director of the Department of Open Distance Education and eLearning (DODeL), expressed the need for MIE to be innovative in its curriculum review and development processes. He emphasised that technological innovations in education are crucial for building the next generation to achieve the Vision 2063 goals. Dr Valeta added that this is a learner-centred solution that uses technology to supplement and support teaching in the main school curriculum.
In his statement, Mr Austin Kalambo, the Director of Curriculum Development at MIE agrees with Dr Valeta by emphasising that the only way to expect change in our education is to digitalisation curriculum development processes. Kalambo pointed out that MIE was already striving to incorporate technological aspects into the curriculum and that the coming in of the BEFIT Programme shall ease the processes. Kalambo expressed that this was observed during the curriculum benchmarking that was conducted in some countries within the region like Rwanda and Kenya.
The BEFIT programme is being implemented by the Ministry of Education, with funding from the Malawi Government and a consortium of partners, including philanthropic funders and implementation support providers. This collective effort ensures that the programme will be rolled out in every school district across Malawi, beginning with 250,000 students across 500 schools by the end of the 2023-2024 school year and reaching more than 3.8 million students annually at full scale. The programme is targeting Standards 1 to 4, and the strong support from these entities is a testament to their commitment to improving education in Malawi.