Poor environment hurts girls’ pass rates—minister

Minister of Gender, Disability and Social Welfare Mary Navicha has blamed the continued underperformance of girls in national examinations on poor learning environment in the country’s schools.

The minister noted that inadequate classroom infrastructure, long distance to school and lack of sanitary facilities are among the challenges undermining girls’ access to quality education and underperformance compared to boys.

Navicha: Allocate more resources to education. | Jonathan Pasungwi

In an interview during the Our Lady of Wisdom Secondary School’s 105th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday Night in Blantyre, Navicha said the gender divide had remained a challenge in many schools over the past five years.

She said: “It is a challenge for a girl child to travel a long distance to school, to learn under trees without desks and even to go to schools which have no proper toilets or changing rooms. These things look simple, but have long-term implications, including poor performance.

“That’s why the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] administration is encouraging constituencies that the larger share of the K5 billion Constituency Development Fund should go towards education and we believe this will improve girl child’s performance during examinations.”

Figures from the Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) show that the gap between the performance of female candidates and males was big across the three levels of national examinations in 2026.

At Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE), 48 473 of the 90 149 female candidates passed, representing a 53.77 percent pass rate. This was 5.49 percentage points below the national pass rate of 59.26 percent.

Male candidates recorded a 62.8 percent pass rate, which was 3.54 percentage points above the national average.

At Junior Certificate of Education (JCE), 78.49 percent of female candidates passed against a national pass rate of 81 percent, while at Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE), 76.94 percent of female candidates passed against the national rate of 81.17 percent.

The trend was also evident in 2025, when 53.74 percent of female candidates passed MSCE examination against a national pass rate of 58.44 percent.

At JCE, the female pass rate was 73.49 percent against a national rate of 77.61 percent, while at PSLCE, 84.56 percent of female candidates passed against the national pass rate of 87.5 percent.

Navicha, however, singled out Our Lady of Wisdom Secondary School in Blantyre as an institution that has continued to invest in girls’ education.

She said the school has produced professionals in various fields, including the judges, doctors and engineers.

In a separate interview, Our Lady of Wisdom Project chairperson Ingenious Banda said the school would continue grooming girls into future leaders.

The school is seeking about K350 million to construct a modern library and buy a school bus, he said.

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