Abstract

This study examines the context or historical processes in which post colonial educational policies in Malawi were formulated between 1964 and 1994. It argues that the political, economic and social contexts play an important role in policy formulation. The analysis is based on the examination of the background to the formulation of the policies such as the legacy of colonial education and the political, economic and social contexts of Malawi as well as the review of the first and second Education Development Plans (EDPs). Studies of this nature are important because earlier scholars on gender and education in Malawi have taken the gender insensitive nature of the post colonial educational development plans as given. Such analyses portray the post colonial educational system as a phenomenon that deliberately marginalized girls and women. Yet the findings of this study reveal that taking for granted the gender insensitivity of the plans is problematic. Drawing useful insights from theoretical ideas of post-structuralism, the study demonstrates that the gender insensitive nature of the plans was a phenomenon that was constructed through historical processes. It shows that despite stakeholders’ awareness of the importance of paying special attention to girls’ education prior to the first EDP period, the context was not ripe for that type of an educational system because government priorities lay elsewhere. The study observes a similar trend in the formulation and implementation of the second EDP. Among other developments, the recommendations of the world conferences on women held during the United Nations (UN) Decade for Women were influential in changing people’s attitudes towards women in general and women’s education in particular. The study has important implications for history theory and practice. They suggest a need to seriously interrogate or investigate historical concepts and phenomena that we take as unquestioned or the origin of explanation.

More details

School	: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issued Date	: 2010

Download full document