On March 20, in response to increasing numbers of Covid 19 cases in Malawi, APU, along with every other school in the country, was forced to closed our doors and send our students home.
During the five long months that we were closed, the news headlines were filled with devastating reports of skyrocketing numbers of child marriages and teenage pregnancies, as many girls were forced to withstand great pressure from their families and communities to give up their dreams of completing their secondary education, in favour of marriage.
Despite this pressure, APU girls mobilized themselves into peer tutoring groups, their teachers went online to support those that had access to computers, and prepared extensive paper learning packets to deliver into the hands of girls living without electricity in the villages.
On September 7th, when schools were allowed to reopen to Form Four students, APU directors Memory and Henry Mdyetseni, their teachers, along with Board Trustees and Directors in both Malawi and Canada, held their collective breath to see how many of our girls would return.
Every one of our 101 Form Four students came back. And now, this remarkable group of young women are only one week away from writing their national exams.
This Saturday, Oct 24th, they will sit down together with their teachers to enjoy a special graduation dinner. This dinner will take the place of our usual APU Graduation celebration. And they so deserve to celebrate.
This class, the class of 2020, is incredibly special. From the time they were in Form 1, they have been self starters, high achievers, kind to each other and helpful to their teachers. Memory tells me that ‘there is no mediocrity in this class’. And they have returned to school with overwhelming gratitude for the education that they are receiving at APU.
APU teachers have now all returned to full work and full pay with the arrival of our Form 3 students this past Friday, the Form 2 students on Saturday and our Form 1 students on Sunday. Out of a total school population of 489 students, only ONE student withdrew.
OUR GIRLS ARE BACK!
Back to learning,
back to laughing,
back to singing and dancing,
and most importantly,
back to believing in themselves.
I am extremely impressed with this school, especially the Four Four performance for the 2020 academic year. This performance was despite the numerous odds that were experienced countrywide. The comment from MD Memory and I quote “There is no mediocrity in this Class ” end of quote caught my most attention. I have never heard such a comment from a secondary school MD for perhaps a very long time. Keep it up. I wished I enrolled my granddaughter into this school if an opportunity could provide. She has just started her Form Two at Chinsapu Day Secondary but I wished she was enrolled at your prestigious school.