Good news as study circles excite learners in Malawi

By Asiyatu Anussah, Malawi Jill Dando News Correspondent

To encourage learners to work hard in class, the school management at Mnjiri Community Day Secondary School in northern Malawi have introduced study circles as one way to improve performance of students at the school.

Study circles allow students to work in group of circles and assist each other on classroom assignments as well as other topics of study in their respective classes.

The initiative plays an assistive role to learners who have challenges in terms of understanding of certain subjects being taught by their teachers in a classroom.

Headteacher for the school, Blessings Nyirenda said the study circles has proven a workable idea as performance has already begun to change.

He said: “This is a great deal. We earlier had poor performance of some learners but since study circles came into play, we can already see some encouragement of a greater change in terms of performance of our students in class as well as in examinations.

“We encourage learners to embrace the initiative,” said Nyirenda.

Head boy for the school, Albert Banda said the study circles are helpful because they help students understand better in difficult subjects.

Emphasizing the point, Head girl for the school, Mercy Kumwenda said apart from the study circles, the school has also introduced vocational activities which are also a great inspiration to learners.

Asiyatu Anussah is a Jill Dando journalist based out of Malawi.  He is one of hundreds of a fast-expanding number of reporters worldwide who have been trained to find stories in the style and memory of Jill Dando. The young students are trained by professional journalists to become real-life good news reporters.