St Mary’s Trains 36 Students in National Flag Management
By Reshas Nyondo
Thirty-six students selected from across classes have been trained in managing the national flag at St Mary’s Karonga Girls’ Secondary School as decreed by Karonga Diocese’s Chief Shepherd, Bishop Martin Anwel Mtumbuka.
Last year in December, Bishop Mtumbuka said with the training, students would among others, cultivate an aura of respect for the protected flag which would, in turn, help them develop a spirit of patriotism.
One of the trainees, Shalom Chiwaya (Form 3), said managing the flag was not only elating but also helped her appreciate its significance.
“These days, after the training, I do not only appreciate the importance of the flag but also the prayer that is the national anthem when we are raising it,” said Shalom.
Wisdom Mawowa, the teacher who trained the students, said the training took three days.
“We identified 36 students who were further divided into four groups of nine. Each group has the task to parade and ask for permission from the head teacher to raise the national flag every Monday after assembly announcements, but before classes commence. The flag is raised whilst the national anthem is being sang,” emphasized Mawowa.
After the training, an historic raise of the flag was observed on a Monday; May 13, 2019.
Bishop Mtumbuka Hands over Minibus to St Mary’s Girls; Bemoans Stereotype against Girls in Education
By Norbert Tambalamtuwa Mzembe
The leadership of the Diocese of Karonga has described as uncalled for, the tendency of underrating girls’ capacity for attaining higher education common among most Malawians.
Bishop Martin Anwel Mtumbuka said this on Monday at the newly established Saint Mary Girls’ Secondary School in Karonga District.
In a quest to break the record that girls can also excel in education like boys, given equal opportunities, Bishop Mtumbuka handed over a brand new Toyota Hiace minibus to the school to ease mobility challenges for both learners and staff at the institution. The minibus has been bought by the Diocese of Karonga with financial support from Team Lift.
“The church recognizes the new government policy that prohibits schools from ferrying pupils in open vehicles during their educational trips. That is why we thought of buying this minibus for the school. They have stayed for quite some time using a small vehicle and sometimes open ones,” explained the Bishop.
He further appealed to learners to take good care of the vehicle. He also urged them to work hard in school to make their parents and the whole nation proud.
The Bishop added that being at a Christian school, learners must strive for excellence both spiritually and physically. He discouraged learners from being selfish to their colleagues for them to become reliable citizens who could bring the nation to light as greedy characters derail national development.
The school’s Deputy Head Teacher, Farriot Ngwira commended the kind gesture shown by the diocese through the donation of the vehicle which in the long run will improve the standards of education.
“Our learners now have an opportunity to have exchange learning visits to their sister schools to learn what their colleagues do, to do well academically. We will also have no problems in ferrying them to hospital when they fall sick,” Ngwira said.
Furthermore, the deputy head assured the general public that they should expect good results from the school as they are currently already doing well.
In expressing her gratitude on behalf of her peers, one of the exceptional pupils, a 14 year old form two Clever Banda whose ambition is to become a Quantity Surveyor, said she is optimistic that the school will bring joy to the church, parents and the nation as a whole as they will now put more effort in their studies.
The seemingly brilliant girl further called upon the diocese to reconsider them with additional academic books and laboratory equipment to sharpen their knowledge.
Established in 2017 and situated at the lake view mountain at Mwenilondo, the school is currently accommodating about 200 learners in forms one and two but it is designed to host about 600 learners.
St. Mary’s Karonga Girls Secondary School in Educational Visit to Karonga Museum
BY HENDRIX NGWIRA
On Saturday 1st July, 2017 the students from St Mary Karonga Girls Secondary School had an educational visit Karonga museum. The teachers organized the trip to enable student learn in a different environment the concepts they usually study at school. The students were able to appreciate some of the concepts they learn in different disciplines such as humanities, sciences and languages.
Judging from the students reports after the trip, most students gave positive comments about the trip. The following were some of the comments by the students: “It was my first time to visit Karonga museum and I will never forget the wonderful experience I had.” Sharom Chiwaya said this after the trip. The Head girl of the school was very happy to see the Dinosaur at the museum.
Overall the educational trip to the museum was very successful and will remain a wonderful experience to the students and all the teacher who accompanied the students.
Keep St. Mary’s Clean Club Visits Chaminade Secondary School
By Benedict R.K.Nyondo- Patron
Forty-eight students of St Mary’s Karonga Girls Secondary School, who belong to a sanitation and environment club known as “Keep St Mary’s Clean Club” (KSMCC), celebrated the Republic Day marking fifty-three years of independence on 6th July, 2017 in a special way. The club, born on 6th November, 2016; advocates for zero tolerance on litter in school. It is an activity based club with an intention to train young men and women in schools to have positive attitude towards work and responsibility.
It was a bright Thursday morning with beautiful sun’s beaming reflections from the lake, when students clad in their gym-dress uniform, boarded an open lorry ready to depart for Chaminade secondary school. The unison declaration: “Our help is the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” One of the students said the prayer and the vehicle started off. The journey was beefed up with spiritual songs which increased a lot of excitement in students. Exactly at quarter to ten, we were at Chaminade campus. The girls were warmly welcomed by their brothers who ushered them to St Joseph Hall while the executive committee for the two clubs met to adopt the proposed program which was fully packed with activities from 10.00 a.m. with a lunch break up to 3.00 o’clock in the afternoon.
Soon after the adoption of the program, the prayer was said followed by the national anthem. The two chairpersons, Aaron Sinkhala of Keep Chaminade Clean Club (KCCC) and Tiwonge Munde of Keep St Mary’s Clean Club (KSMCC) took the responsibilities as directors of the activities on that day. The two leaders followed the activities that were on the program such as sharing of experiences, success and challenges, and the way forward for the club. It was an enriching moment as the boys first took the KSMCC around the campus to appreciate what their colleagues were doing as a club. Among other things, the KCCC showed them rubbish pits, waste buckets put in strategic points to have waste thrown in them.
At the time of sharing experiences, the girls admitted that their friends were more advanced. They appreciated their achievements and promised to emulate as soon as they came back to their school. Then came time for variety shows. The boys had short plays, songs and poetry which depicted the themes of sanitation and environment. At the very end the two clubs made a summary of what they had discussed and finally mapped a way forward for the two clubs.
During the speeches, the patron for Chaminade secondary school, Mr. Clinton Mughogho thanked Mr.Reshas Kalupande Nyondo, the founder of the two clubs for coming up with the idea of involving students in their own environment. The Acting Head teacher, Mr. Edward Luhanga said that such activities would enhance healthy environment in schools and nationwide. He urged the students to continue to grow with such a positive attitude of responsibility. The activities came to an end at five minutes to three in the afternoon with a prayer followed by the national anthem. The girls were safely driven back to St Mary’s Karonga Girls’ Secondary School.