About Msani School

Msani Secondary School is located near Nkhata Bay, Malawi. The school was founded in 2008 by Professor Wiseman Chijere Chirwa in consultation and cooperation with local communities. The site used to be a local community primary school established in 1978. In 2006 Professor Chirwa negotiated with the local communities to renovate an old primary school building and erect additional buildings to start a community-based secondary school where students pay part of the cost of their education. The renovations started in November 2008, marking the beginning of a project single-handedly funded by an individual. Classes commenced in October 2010.

Much as the project was started by an individual, the school is run by a five-member board that includes a local chief. It has its own bank accounts and a management system.

Currently the school has one block of 4 class rooms; an office for teachers; and a new building under construction meant to house a science laboratory and a computer lab. A school library building is planned for construction between July and December 2011. The local communities have also requested for boarding facilities, especially for girls. At present the enrolment is 125 while the school capacity is 240. Each of the 4 classes has 60 desks.

The school has four classes: Forms 1 -4 and uses the official national secondary school syllabus. Subjects taught include sciences: Introductory physics and chemistry, O-level mathematics, biology, business studies, commerce, home economics, etc, in addition to humanities and social sciences. Science subjects require laboratories, including a computer lab, where students can do experiments and other forms of practicals. Some knowledge and skills in IT are also crucial for student research.

Professor Wiseman (as I like to call him) is a most incredible man. Not only has he built, staffed and runs the school in Nkhata Bay, he is also a Professor of African Social History at the University of Malawi in Zomba, and continues to help and mentor both myself (with my distribution of LED/Solar lights to students in the Nkhata Bay area) and mentor one of my sponsored students. He also has an incredible record in creating and supporting learning institutions in his country. He completed his masters and PhD at Queen's University, in Kingston, ON with a Commonwealth scholarship. He graduated with honours and with his stay in Canada, he has a great ability and understand to make things work well both from a Canadian as well as a Malawi perspective.

What do you need at your school that you have difficulty getting?

I need to expand the enrolment by putting up an additional block, a girls' hostel (on huge demand), a science lab (mandatory), and books.

The last three are my priorities. I have sorted out the water but need the power/electricity so that my students would be able to read at night. When I last calculated how much the expansion would cost me, it was coming up to just under $18,000.

When I looked at the options of reducing the cost, the following were identified:
(i) donations of computers and books;
(ii) donations of lab equipment and supplies;
(iii) donations of construction materials,
(iv) financing and business partnerships,
(v) externally-generated scholarships to students to increase the revenue base.

These measures would leave me with just the basic infrastructural works to worry about. Just imagine what I would accomplish if two or three people were to come in with varied/various forms of support.

An excerpt from a recent newspaper article, Malawi

Wiseman Chijere Chirwa, 52, was born at Dindano Village, near Nkhata Bay, northern Malawi, in a family of 7. He went to three local primary schools (Lisale, Pundu and Luwazi) before joining Chaminade Boys Secondary School at Karonga further north of Malawi. From there he went to Chancellor College, University of Malawi where he obtained two degrees before winning a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship to study African Social History at Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

While at Queen's Wiseman took some courses in Latin American history and politics and African politics. He returned to Malawi in 1992 after 5 years to rejoin the University of Malawi where he is now a Professor of African Social Studies.

His motivation to establish Msani Private Secondary School, a co-education facility for both boys and girls is best summarized in his own words as follows:

Dr. Wiseman? How did the school idea come about?

Answer: My father was a disciplinarian (he is still alive). He wanted his children, all the 7 of us, to go to school. He, himself, went to school during the colonial period, then worked in the mines in South Africa. Because he had some education, he knew the value of it and wanted his children to do the same. But at the time of our going to school there weren't many schools. The few that were there were substandard, so we had to make the best out of whatever was available. In fact there was only one primary school in my area, catering for more than 30 villages, covering a radius of about 12 Kms. Imagine, there were 72 of us in standard 1 alone at the time I started school. We couldn't fit a classroom measuring just about 15 feet x 18 feet. So we used to learn under a Mango tree.

My greatest shock when I came back to the village after my 5 year stay in Canada was that the school facilities and the general education conditions were pretty much the same as they were when I went to school in the area more than 20 years in the past. The school structures were still substandard. Some children were still learning under the same Mango trees I learnt under. They were still repeating Standard 8 because they could not get selected to secondary school. Much as new and additional primary schools had been built in the area, there were no secondary schools. Walking distances to the nearest secondary schools were between 8 and 14 Kms. So I decided I should make a contribution. I told myself, "If I start, then a few years from now another person follows, and more in future, this area will transform…I grew up here, went to school here, I know what it means to struggle for education. I went through it. I know it all. And if I have made it, with just a little support, any other kid from the area can do it. So why not give them a change?"

…Being a service to my community, the fees charged at my school are extremely low - currently equivalent to just about US$53 for a three-month term, and a total of US$160 for the academic year. I have 8 teachers (with college/university qualifications) and four support staff, all paid from a combination of the little fees collected at the school and a contribution from my own income.

I have struggled to establish the school for the last three years, financing it from my meager income. Now it is up and running and attracting a lot of attention from the public. There are demands for boarding facilities, especially for girls, science laboratory and equipment, computers, etc. Unfortunately, at the moment I do not have power at the school, books are not adequate, and the lab is not yet functional though the building is almost complete . To get a power line I need to source a stepdown transformer at a cost of close to US$25,000. Solar power would be the most suitable alternative…