Education

The Trust continues its educational support for secondary school fees and vocational training programs as well as university.  Beneficiaries who perform well at school will be supported with tertiary education fees if the student wishes and remains eligible.  The Trust strongly encourages applications in support of girls and young women as many are traditionally kept at home to support with domestic duties.

​

The Trust continues to focus on education as its primary activity.  We maintain a very strong working relationship with a number of secondary schools, vocational training centres and tertiary education institutions.  Josie  Quinn, our  administrative powerhouse in the UK, has built up  a very robust and transparent accounting system . Josie and the local committee are able to vouch for each and every student who, as part the conditions of their award, are now required to submit progress reports twice a year. 

Students are selected on the basis of their potential and, commitment.   All are deemed unlikely to be able to continue their education without the support of the trust. Many talented young people would therefore otherwise be denied the opportunity of further education or training and would move to unskilled jobs or subsistence farming in order to feed themselves and their families. The Trust is proud to offer an opportunity for some such folk to reach their true potential.  

 

Tertiary Education

 

The Trust supports a wide range of courses but the focus is largely on Medical qualifications. The cost of training a Doctor is approximately £2000. This is the total cost of fees for the 5 year course at Blantyre Medical College. The qualification is internationally recognised and students are able to work abroad.

 

While the objective of the Trust is to train more Doctors for Malawi, the differential in remuneration and further training opportunities does mean that most graduates leave Malawi to work elsewhere, either in the US or Europe. However, many of our students have indicated that they have a strong desire to return to Malawi to work there and indeed one of our first students is about to return as a trained Paediatrician.

 

This is an encouraging sign and justification for support to medical students. If enough are trained it is inevitable that in the long term Malawians will benefit.

​

A major project during the pandemic was the rapid  expansion of laptop availability  to facilitate remote learning.  Prior to this, tertiary students were all sharing a laptop between multiple students.  We worked with another charity (Computer Aid) to import over 50 refurbished laptops from Zambia, all of which had to collected from the border and then distributed to students across 12 sites within days:  thanks again to the local committee. 

​

Vocational Courses

​

Funding has also been made available for various other courses in Agriculture, Social Sciences, Law, Teaching and IT. Chancellor College provides the majority of these courses.

​

We also support a number of students at Comboni Technical Centre which covers carpentry, welding, metalwork and electrical skills.

​

All students are very enthusiastic and provide regular feedback to the Trust about their results and progress.

 

Secondary Education

 

Each year the trust pay school fees for approximately 100 students.

The cost of this is about £100 per student.

​

​

We support students at the following schools and colleges

​

• Blantyre Medical College

• Chancellor College

• Comboni Technical Centre

• Secondary Schools