Education Minister Agnes NyaLonje has applauded Standard Bank Plc for investing K163.5 Million in the construction of a 112-bed hostel at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School, and choosing to increase access to formal education for girls.
The girls hostel project is a jointly funded project between Standard Bank Plc and Press Trust, who contributed K112 million and K51.5 million, respectively.
“By helping narrow the resource gaps in girl’s education, Press Trust and Standard Bank have responded to a pertinent need that government alone could not ably meet,” said NyaLonje.
She said the decision to invest in girl’s education is well supported by various studies that have shown that girls face the most hardships to complete formal education due to inadequate resources.
“Across Malawi, most girls must walk long distance to school due to lack of boarding facilities,” she revealed.
Standard Bank Chief Executive Philip Madinga said the bank firmly believes that investing in educating girls is one of the strategic ways of developing the country’s economy and grooming future leaders.
“More educated girls lead to an increase in ratio of female leaders and reduces the pressures related to social economic status,” said Madinga.
Press Trust Trustee Audrey Mwala said the partnership with Standard Bank Plc is in recognition the crucial link between social environmental and economic issues that affect the livelihood of Malawians.
“We believe that we all can go further when we work together. Therefore, we partner with like-minded organizations like Standard Bank and others to change the fortunes of Malawians. This donation makes the learning environment conducive. We hope that this will catalyze improved learning outcomes for the girls”, she said.
Earlier this year the partnership made remarkable strides as Standard Bank and Press Trust continued to support 74 students in various government secondary schools across the country through their Standard Bank and Press Trust Merit Scholarship fund.
Standard Bank has a track record of investing in the country’s education sector with notable contributions being the Mzuzu Government Secondary School classroom project, Che Januare Primary School in Chiradzulu and a girls’ mentorship and fundraising initiative through the Be More Race.