ASSESSING IMPACTS OF FLOODS ON ACCESS TO PRIMARY EDUCATION

Floods are among the most common and destructive hazards. The destruction of schools is one way in which floods can inhibit educational attainment that consequently derails economic development. Education as a human right is universal and inalienable. The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of floods on learners’ access to primary education in Livunzu Education zone, T/A Makhwira, Chikhwawa District southern Malawi. The research objectives formulated to guide this study are to: assess impacts of floods on classroom participation, establish effects of floods on school attendance, determine performance of learners when flood strikes and determine effects of floods on students’ enrolment in Livunzu educational zone. The study used a research design of 197 learners drawn from the randomly selected 4 schools, 68 school teachers, and 4 Head teachers. Questionnaires and observation checklists were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and paired student T test were used to analyze data. Findings revealed that floods not only make school inaccessible, but they also destroy infrastructure, make roads impassable for students and teachers displace families and destroy farms which contributed grossly to the livelihoods of people in the area. Floods hamper enrolment as parents do not want to endanger the lives of the children so schools prone to floods have a high chance of closing down due to low enrolment. The findings also revealed that floods substantially lower learners’ performance in terminal examinations. Annually recurring floods regularly prevent millions of children from attending a full year of school. At times the learning resources and materials are washed away or destroyed or rendered unusable. Schools may be used as shelters for people who have been displaced from their homes due to floods. Every year floods provoke delay to study programs and damages to schools. So there is need for a paradigm shift from reactive to proactive flood management. Therefore, it’s recommended that schools should engage qualified professionals to assess school buildings, design, construct and maintain school facilities to be resilient in the face of recurrent floods and other weather-related disasters. Disaster risk reduction should be integrated in the syllabus. Head teachers, teachers and learners should undergo annual training on disaster risk reduction.

The research objectives formulated to guide this study are to: assess impacts of floods on classroom participation, establish effects of floods on school attendance, determine performance of learners when flood strikes and determine effects of floods on students’ enrolment in Livunzu educational zone. Findings revealed that floods not only make school inaccessible, but they also destroy infrastructure, make roads impassable for students and teachers displace families and destroy farms which contributed grossly to the livelihoods of people in the area. Floods hamper enrolment as parents do not want to endanger the lives of the children so schools prone to floods have a high chance of closing down due to low enrolment. Therefore, it’s recommended that schools should engage qualified professionals to assess school buildings, design, construct and maintain school facilities to be resilient in the face of recurrent floods and other weather-related disasters.

The study was conducted in Livunzu educational zone in Tradition Authority Makhwira, the East bank of Chikhwawa district, southern Malawi. The area has 13 public primary schools. It is substantially affected by floods almost yearly due to its terrain characteristics as it is part of shire valley basin, proximity to shire river, availability of dense stream networks and it also lies on distal margin of Thyolo escapements a factor that exposes the area to runoff impacts from uplands. The map below depicts those features that expose the area to floods. The researcher also observed that rivers in the area are highly silted leading to shallow river channels which may reduce capacity of rivers to hold sufficient rain water. The area is not much proximal to shire river however; the rivers are tributaries of shire river. In the rain season the rivers are blocked to discharge water into shire river due to current differentials as the result, the water level starts to rise from confluences backwards. This becomes flooding logic of the study area. Additionally, due to generally flat terrain and shallowness of liver channels, the rivers overflow causing floods in the area.

Traditional authority: TA Makhwira

District: Chikwawa

Coordinates: -16.2776, 35.0011