The Sites

Malawi

Scale Portfolio

National expansion across Malawi

Malawi is part of our Scale Portfolio. Under the BEFIT program, we are working with the Malawi Ministry of Education and partners onebillion and VSO, among others, to eventually serve over 3.8 million children per year in Standards 1-4 across all 6,000 public primary schools in Malawi. BEFIT is a Malawi government-led program and began rolling out in September 2023, serving 500 schools in Year 1 across 18 districts. BEFIT Year 3 is currently serving over 1,000 schools across all education districts in Malawi.

We also continue to serve children at a community-supported school and a youth center in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp (visit our Refugee Program page).

Current Impact At a Glance

Students

636,809

Schools (+solar)

1,088

Tablets

168,900

Teachers Trained

18,000

Early Pilots and Evidence-Building in Malawi

We have conducted several efficacy research studies to understand learning gains in literacy and numeracy due to use of the tablets over different lengths of time, and in different contexts. This research contributed to the Malawi government’s decision to scale the program countrywide. We are grateful to these communities for collaborating with us on the previous research.

Community-supported school

We served 5-8 year-olds in an informal school

  • Location: Dzaleka Refugee Camp
  • Curriculum and Language of Instruction: Math and Literacy (in English)
  • Research Focus: Can young children whose first language is not English achieve significant math gains over those resulting from standard instruction when using a digital learning program in English?
  • Type of Study: Initial implementation study followed by a proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial
Youth Center

We served 6-12 year-olds in a youth center

  • Location: Dzaleka Refugee Camp
  • Curriculum and Language of Instruction: Math and Literacy (in English)
  • Research Focus: How well did out-of-school children whose first language was not English respond to the tablet program in English?
  • Type of Study: Short term implementation studies
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS (Unlocking Talent)

We served second graders in public schools

  • Location: Four Government Primary Schools, Lilongwe
  • Curriculum and Language of Instruction: Math and Literacy (in Chichewa)
  • Research Focus: How much do children gain in critical literacy and math skills after using the tablet-based learning curriculum for different lengths of time (5 months to 2 school years)?
  • Type of Study: Randomized controlled trials over 5 months, 1 year, and 2 years
MALAWI HOME-BASED INTERVENTION

We served 700 low-income households with primary-age children during school closures due to COVID-19

  • Location: Lilongwe, Malawi
  • Curriculum and Language of Instruction: Math and Literacy (in Chichewa)
  • Research Focus: To understand parent and child experiences of the program and key drivers of and barriers to use of the tablets in a home setting.
  • Type of Study: Rapid-cycle research involving repeated phone interviews
Research Results

Imagine’s research has demonstrated additional important benefits including increased attendance in school

Our 2-year randomized controlled trial (RCT) (conducted 2019-2021) in Malawi demonstrated approximately 4.2 months of additional learning in literacy and 3.6 months of additional learning in math (added values of 32% and 28% respectively) after 13 months of tablet use and despite COVID-related school closures. Higher engagement in class, and greater confidence in learning and girls benefited at least as much as boys in contrast to standard classroom practice.

This model has already been successfully implemented in over 250 schools across Malawi since 2014, serving 225,000 children via the Unlocking Talent program.

State of Education in Malawi

Malawi’s 5+ million primary school children are educated in just 6,000 schools.

Free primary education was introduced in 1994, however the country still faces significant educational challenges. While enrollment has risen to 5.3 million students, systemic issues such as overcrowded classrooms, a lack of learning materials, a shortage of trained teachers, and high student-to-teacher ratios still exist and hinder quality education.

Population (2023): 20.9 million
Number of public primary schools: 6,000
Number of primary school children: 5,120,080
Primary student-to-teacher ratio: 60:1
Primary school completion rate (2024): 45% boys, 54% girls
Official literacy rate: 62%