Malawi is losing about $161 million (about K282 billion) annually due to inefficiencies in the education system such as grade repetition, school dropouts and irregular enrolment, an analysis has computed.
Presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Education in Lilongwe on Monday, the analysis shows that grade repetition alone accounts for $67 million of the annual losses, making it the single biggest drain on the sector.
The researchers also found that enrolling learners either underage or overage costs the system about $7 million annually, while school dropouts account for a further $10 million in wasted resources.
Conducted in six districts by the Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) and partners, including Oxfam in Malawi, Sightsavers International, ActionAid Malawi and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (Fawema), the study also established that 70 percent of out-of-school children and dropouts are concentrated in specific communities.
The study shows that enrolling learners either underage or overage costs about $7 million
annually
Csec executive director Benedicto Kondowe said the losses are occurring in a sector already struggling with underfunding.
Malawi has allocated K1.28 trillion to education in the proposed K10.9 trillion 2026/27 National Budget, about two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), below the four to six percent recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Kondowe warned that the funding gap is slowing efforts to expand infrastructure and improve learning conditions.
“This limits the sector’s ability to address persistent challenges. In practical terms, it means slower classroom construction, inadequate teacher recruitment and housing, shortages of teaching and learning materials and limited investment in technology and skills development,” he said.
But Parliamentary Committee on Education chairperson Mutani Tambala backed government’s commitment to the sector, citing the introduction of the free secondary education (FSE) programme earlier this year.
“There is a deliberate initiative of free secondary school, and a lot of money has been channelled to that perspective. Government has tried its best to allocate resources to the Ministry of Education,” he said.
The study also highlights several structural weaknesses in the education system, including a teacher shortage of about 25 000–15 000 in primary schools and 10 000 in secondary schools–yet a K82 billion request for teacher recruitment was not approved in the current budget.
Teachers Union of Malawi executive director Charles Kumchenga previously warned that recruitment alone will not solve the problem because a shortage of staff houses is affecting teacher morale and performance.
Digital learning is also lagging , with only 17 percent of schools offering ICT lessons, largely due to lack of electricity, absence of ICT technicians and limited refresher training for teachers.
The situation is more severe in special needs education, where only four percent of learners with disabilities are enrolled in primary school and 2.7 percent in secondary school, while just four percent of schools have a qualified special needs teacher.
The study also points to challenges in implementing the free secondary education programme launched in January 2026.
