Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy (BJSEP), Volume 4, Number 1, 2010

CHAOS-COMPLEXITY THEORY AND

EDUCATION POLICY: LESSONS FROM
MALAWI’S COMMUNITY DAY
SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Happy M. KAYUNI
University of Malawi, Republic of Malawi

Abstract. Since the democratic dispensation of 1994, the education

sector seems to be in perpetual transition with numerous facets of policies be-
ing introduced against a background of alleged poor management, under-
staffing and a poorly paid cadre of teachers. The situation was at one time lik-
ened “to a patient on a resuscitation bed in a hospital”. Despite this seemingly
chaotic and complex scenario, the education system has managed to survive.
Using the Malawi Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) policy, the
paper intends to draw some insights from public policy’s Chaos and Complex-
ity theory to explain why the education sector still manages to survive and
show resilience (on the “edge of chaos”) despite the apparent overwhelming
challenges.
Keywords: education policy; Malawi; Community Day Secondary
Schools (CDSS); chaos-complexity theory; participation

5
 1. Introduction
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is one of the larg-
est in Malawi and over the years it has been experiencing numerous chal-
lenges that have largely been analyzed in the academic literature (Kayuni &
Tambulasi, 2007; Rose, 2003a, 2003b).1,2) In order to among other things, en-
hance participation and improve secondary school access, Community Day
Secondary Schools (CDSS) were established in 1998. However, this move led
to a “crisis” in the secondary school education especially in the areas of qual-
ity and relevance of the education being provided. The available literature lim-
its the discussion over the issue to micro policy implications; hence it does not
extend this analysis to the wider system policy theory domain. The paper in-
troduces the chaos-complex policy theory in order to contextualize this CDSS
policy decision. Chaos theory argues that in most complex systems, despite a
seemingly chaotic and confusing scenario, there are patterns of order which
are achieved in the zone of what is referred to as “edge of chaos”- this is
where they best deliver. In this case, from a casual observation, public policies
applied to complex systems may be deemed to have failed when in reality
there is a self-regulation scheme in operation that ultimately assists the system
to deliver. On the whole, the paper argues and demonstrates that the Malawi
education policies have to a larger extent driven the education system to the
“edges of chaos” where it is arguably “thriving”.
In order to enhance clarity of the paper and provide a proper setting,
the paper starts by analyzing the concept of chaos-complexity theory and this
is followed by a discussion on the global context of education policy and re-
form as well as policy making in democratic Malawi. The third section ana-
lyzes the education policy in Malawi after 1994 and establishment of Com-
munity Day Secondary Schools followed by a critical analysis of the policy
crisis/chaos within the Community Day Secondary School sector. Before con-
cluding, the last section provides the underlying order within this crisis.

6
 2. Chaos-complexity theory
Although the chaos-complexity phase in policy analysis can be traced
back to some years before mid 1990’s, its impact has largely been recognized
in the 2000’s. Taking into consideration the multiplicity of policy actors, it
became clear to most policy analysts that the policy environment is more
complex, unpredictable and confusing akin to chaos. However, the chaos-
complexity theory gives an “appreciation, not distrust of chaos and of uncer-
tainty, stressful times” and it further stresses that “real change and new struc-
tures are found in the very chaos they [managers or policy makers] try to pre-
vent” (Overman, 1996).
In order to fully appreciate the relevance of chaos-complexity theory a
brief analysis of the development of the concept as well as its relation to sys-
tems theory, and finally, unpredictability and crisis is discussed below.

2.1 Development of the concept

The name "chaos theory" comes from the fact that the systems
described are apparently disordered, but it goes further by finding the
underlying order in apparently random scenarios through its extension to
analysis of complexity theory. The first person to realistically experiment in
chaos was a meteorologist Edward Lorenz. While working on the problem of
weather prediction in 1960, he discovered that the data produced by his
computer, despite its seemingly chaotic nature, showed some patterns that
could meaningfully explain certain developments. Through analysis of this
data, it was revealed that a small change in the weather (which could initially
be regarded as negligible) in one city can exponential have devastating effect
in another far way city (Kershaw & Safford, 1998). This was popularly known
as the “butterfly effect” or “sensitive dependence”. In this case, a small
change in the initial conditions can drastically change the long-term behavior

7
of the system. Therefore, “chaos is a system theory that attempts to understand
the behavior of nonlinear, unpredictable systems” (Bechtold, 1997). Origi-
nally, the concept was successfully applied in the natural sciences such as
chemistry, biology and physics so as to enhance understanding of certain
emerging trends in those fields. Over the years it was also noted that most so-
cial science disciplines tend to be confronted with characteristics of non-linear
and unpredictable phenomenon. Consequently “this recognition has led to a
surge of interest in applying chaos theory to a number of fields” (Levy, 1994)
and these include international relations, economics, management, education
and policy analysis.

2.2. Chaos and policy systems theory

Chaos theory is not completely new in policy analysis. Policy systems
theory, which is one of the core perspectives in policy analysis, forms the ba-
sis of chaos theory. As Overman (1996) observes “chaos theory has its roots
in simple systems theory and owes much to this now-familiar approach”;
however, chaos theory has been developed further by generating its own per-
spectives to the understanding of policy processes. In general, a system is a
set of parts that interact with each other and function as a unified whole. Pol-
icy systems approach argues that government or decision makers receive in
puts inform of demands or support from the social, economic and political en-
vironment which they process and make decisions or policy actions which are
referred to as outputs. This output may also ultimately be regarded as input
through the feedback process. Policy systems approach argues that it is the
goal of the system to achieve and maintain the state of equilibrium so as to
ensure policy stability and progress, i.e. the inputs should balance with the
output. Chaos theory, however, argues that policy stability is rarely achieved
and should not necessarily be the goal of a policy system. More often than not,

8
policy systems are in a state of disequilibrium which leads to a seemingly
chaotic situation. In this way, chaos theory is an evolutionary system theory.
The link between chaos and complexity is a little bit tricky as it dwells
much on an abstract academic construct. This is complicated by the fact that
“the literature on complexity science gives little detail to understanding “com-
plexity” itself (Medd, 2004). This is even clear when it is noted that there is
“difficulty of giving definitions and measurements of complexity” (Medd,
2004). Consequently the link between chaos and complexity has always been
problematic. However, Luhmann (in Medd, 2004) argues that “we live in a
world in which it is not possible to connect the totality of anything”. The link
with complexity comes about because chaos “sees a system as continuously
transforming itself to a higher level of complexity, making changes that are
irreversible”; in this case, “though a dynamic system may appear to be cha-
otic, its identity, history, and sense of purpose (strange attractor) define its
boundaries and guide its evolution and growth” (Bechtold, 1997). As Cohen
& Stewart (1994) suggest “one of the great surprises of chaos theory is the
discovery of totally new simplicities, deep universal patterns concealed within
the erratic behaviour of chaotic dynamical systems.” Specifically, complexity
is ultimately achieved when a dynamic system which is self-organizing (in
how it orders and structures itself) grow and change.
The assumed progression in chaos-complexity theory is that a policy
system starts at an optimistic level of high predictability and “as the predict-
ability horizon is approached, however, small uncertainties will begin to creep
into the system which will tend to bend or distort the rules on which we base
our predictions”; ultimately “the uncertainties will be self accelerating and
lead, inevitably, to a point of rapid transition into chaos” (Bechtold, 1997).
The edge of chaos is somewhere between order and disorder or between a
chaotic and complex situation (Cloete, 2004). According to chaos-complexity
theory, this is the best scenario for an organisation or policy system because

9
there is a higher degree of “creativity and innovativeness” (Praught, 2004)
hence the term “thriving on the edges of chaos”. Bechtold (1997) aptly de-
scribes this situation by arguing that

[A] system betters itself, creates its own future, and continuously
adapts to its environment based on its intelligence and information.
For this, it needs to tap not only its more stable parts but also those
at the “edge of chaos” that are chaotic or even dissipative. Through
the freedom of operating with an open flow of information from its
“edge,” it stays connected to its simultaneously evolving environ-
ment and enhances its ability to handle environmental changes.

Table 1 summarizes the key components of the traditional, chaotic and

complex policy situations as already discussed above.

Table 1. Differences amongst the traditional, chaotic and complex policy

situations

Traditional policy system Chaotic policy situation Complex policy situation

and rational approach
Control Chaos Complex
Order Disorder Order within chaos
Objective Subjective Interconnected
Safe Unsafe Dynamic
Certain Uncertain Adaptive
Predictable Unpredictable Pattern
One best way Any way Multiple approach
Structured Unstructured Codetermined
Equilibrium or homeostasis Disequilibrium Dissipative Structures
Holism: the whole is equal Irreducibility Inexplicable by the parts
to the sum of the parts
Feedback Irreversibility Self-regulating
Adapted from Darwin (2004); Overman (1996) and Cloete (2004)

10
 2.3 Unpredictability and crisis: the core processes in chaos-
complexity
In relation to policy changes, Parsons (1995) argues “the student of
public policy faces a complex and contradictory body of analysis”. Grindle &
Thomas (1991) add that “all policy choices thus involve uncertainty and risk”.
This uncertainty and risk is heightened by the fact public policy analysis is
shrouded in what Nagel & Treaser (2004) call three methodological problems.
These three methodological problems are: (a) complexity which leads to prob-
lems associated with multiple conflicting criteria and conditions of multidi-
mensional measurement; (b) uncertainty of the consequences of current deci-
sions; (c) effectuality or how to ably communicate in a persuasive manner
hence convince public policy makers. Based on the three observations by Na-
gel & Treaser, uncertainty is probably the commonest problem that policy
makers and analysts are confronted with. Taking into consideration the asser-
tion by chaos-complex theory that even a small change in the policy “can have
big effects that will result in unexpected outcomes as complex systems change
overtime” the manifestation of a crisis can not be underestimated. Referring to
change in the American policymaking, True et al. (1999) initially claim that
“stasis, rather than crisis, typically characterizes most policy areas”, but they
later admit that “however, crises often occur”. Embedded in this crisis is
chaos. In the context of post-secondary education system in USA and Canada,
Kershaw & Safford (1998) state that “chaos appears to reign” and this state
will “best be understood with reference to chaos theory”.
Crisis forms a critical element in policy process and according to
chaos theory, crisis ushers an institution or the policy issue to be rightly
placed: on the edges of chaos. Grindle & Thomas (1991) argue that “if elites
perceive a crisis…the issue will command the attention of senior policy mak-
ers” and in this case “their decisions are likely to be more radical or innova-
tive than when a crisis does not exist, and action will often come quite

11
quickly”. On the other hand they add that “if there is no perception of crisis,
the stakes for government are lower”. In relation to the education sector, this
is why “the science of chaos tells us that signs of disorder might well be signs
that the system of education is healthy and on its way to a much improved
new order” (Sullivan, 1999).

3. Global context of education policy and reform: role of the

World Bank
One of the major roles of research is that it helps guide the formulation
as well as revision of any particular policy. In developing countries, there are
several limiting factor to extensive research. Due to scarcity of expertise and
lack of government funding, education research in developing countries is in
most cases initiated and financed as well as conducted by international donor
agencies- the World Bank is the leading agency in that respect (Boyd, 1999).
According to Boyd (1999), the World Bank’s education policy research find-
ings have a profound “intellectual and political influence” in the developing
countries. As correctly observed by King (1991), “one reason for the wide-
spread knowledge of the research findings of the Bank is that their reports are
relatively easily available at little or no cost” and in addition to this, “they
constitute the state of the art”. Probably of greater significance is the fact that
the Bank’s research reports “fill a major gap” in scarcity of educational litera-
ture “that looks across a region or continent” especially in Third World coun-
tries (King 1991).

Other influential agencies that have an influence on education policy

are the United States Agency for International Development, the British Over-
seas Development Agency now called DFID, various UN agencies (such as
the International Labour Organization, UNESCO) as well as donor countries
such as Canada and Sweden (King 1991). Due to the enhanced relationship
amongst the donors, the World Bank is seen as a coordinator and plays a lead-

12
ing role in influencing the development of educational policy (Lauglo 1996, p.
221). Above all, other donor agencies often tend to rely on the research find-
ings of the World Bank to develop their own funding criteria (Lauglo 1996).
The process of developing education policies can be said to follow three
stages which are theoretical development, experimentation and finally gener-
alisation (Ruperez, 2003). To a larger extent, the World Bank in developing
countries seems to have powerful control of the theoretical development of
educational policy. It is often seen in terms of “international expert.” Conse-
quently, “on some debates about education, the signals broadcast from the
agency (i.e., World Bank) perspective are so powerful, it is difficult to hear
the local voices at all” (King, 1991).

The notion of community participation had been advocated by the

World Bank back in 1986 (Mundy, 2002). The World Bank in 1986 developed
an “in-house policy note” titled Financing Education in Developing Countries
in which three main issues were highlighted for educational reform prescrip-
tion (Mundy, 2002): (1) recover the costs of higher education through user
fees and reallocate these resources to the primary level; (2) develop a credit
market in higher education; (3) decentralize the management of schools and
encourage private and community schools in order to increase competition
and generate a demand-side push for better quality and efficiency (emphasis
my own).

Significantly, despite Mundy’s (2002) remarks, these three issues have

recurred (either directly or indirectly) in several other World Bank policy pa-
pers.

Apart from the World Bank, most other international organisations

also encourage community participation in education. For instance,
UNESCO’s 1996 report, Learning: The Treasure Within3) report emphasizes
that the success of educational reforms mainly depend on local communities
(including parents, school heads and teachers). The report adds that top-down

13
approaches have failed to bring about positive change in education hence calls
for decentralisation in the education system.

However, the World Bank’s policies in education have been the sub-
ject of criticism from several quarters. It is not surprising therefore that “the
views of the Bank on many matters in the education sector, and on Third
World economies more generally, are highly controversial” (King, 1991).

4. Policy making in democratic Malawi

Malawi’s policy making process during the one-party era was highly
centralized with the executive and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) conven-
tions taking a leading role in setting the agenda for policy formulation. Multi-
party politics embraced in 1994 witnessed an opening for multiple players in
the policy formulation process such as the media, NGOs, political parties etc.
Although formally the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) has mandate
to coordinate policy formulation in the country, Chinsinga (2007) observes
that it is still very difficult to fully determine the specific institutional frame-
work for policy formulation in the country. Chinsinga (2007) identifies the
main actors in policy formulation as mainly being composed of the executive,
the government bureaucracy, and international donors- in this case the donors
are the most influential because Malawi is mainly donor dependent. An im-
portant observation made by Chinsinga (2007) is that the policy making proc-
ess in Malawi is complex and tends not to follow the policymaking cycle
model which is depicted in policy literature.

5. Education policy in Malawi after 1994 and establishment of

Community Day Secondary School

In terms of policy, the notion of community participation in education

is well entrenched through the Malawi Vision 20:20, Poverty Reduction Strat-
egy Paper (PRSP) and the Education Policy Investment Framework (PIF) pa-

14
pers and the Poverty Alleviation Paper (PAP). The Malawi Vision 20:20’s
section 1.5.3 points out that one of its strategic challenges is “how to
strengthen self-reliance and community participation in local development
programmes”. Section 1.5.10 of Education Policy Investment Framework
(PIF) mentions that “The Ministry will thus encourage the strengthening of
the participation of parents and other local stakeholders in the financing and
governance of individual schools…” However, when the policy was being
formulated, key stakeholders such as parents, local NGOs, Teachers, and
School Committees were not adequately consulted (Rose, 2003b). Some of the
objectives of the Poverty Alleviation Paper (PAP) are: “to improve the access
of the poor to priority services and to enhance the capacities of the local
communities in managing development” but in keeping with similar docu-
ments elsewhere that are part of SAP policies, little in the rhetoric suggests
that the burden of payment is to be placed on the poor/rural recipients of the
policy.

As already mentioned, the establishment of Community Day Secon-

dary Schools (formerly Distance Education Centres) was seen by government
policy makers as essential to broaden access to secondary school education for
most primary school graduates. All government secondary schools that are
centrally controlled are referred to as conventional secondary schools. How-
ever these were seen as expensive to run and they are also few in number. In
order to increase the number of secondary schools so as to effectively absorb
the growing number of primary school graduates, the government policy deci-
sion was to introduce Community Day Secondary Schools. Initially, the few
existing Distance Education Centres were converted to Community Day Sec-
ondary Schools. Later on the communities were given the authority to con-
struct Community Day Secondary Schools in their locality with minimal gov-
ernment assistance. Specifically, the official announcement in 1998 by the
government/Ministry of Education, in relation to creation of Community Day

15
Secondary Schools was as follows: (i) all DECs would henceforth be known
as Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSSs); all CDSSs would fall under
the Ministry of Education, as do conventional secondary schools, and not un-
der the Malawi College of Distance Education; (ii) ultimately, student selec-
tion for CDSSs would be on the same basis as students to other normal secon-
dary schools; due to time constraints the intakes for Form 1 students in 1999
would be selected by the MOE but in subsequent years selection would be
phased to the district level with direct community involvement within the dis-
trict in the selection process; (iii) the Ministry of Education would begin the
deployment of Diploma and graduate teachers to the CDSSs; (iv) all CDSSs
would be provided with financial assistance to enable them to obtain basic in-
structional materials packages on the understanding that communities would
also contribute towards the purchase of such materials; (v) permission to open
a CDSS would be granted only if MOE standards are strictly followed; (vi)
standardized management and financial systems would become mandatory for
all CDSS and conventional secondary schools; (vii) this move to convert the
former DECs into the new CDSSs, would have a continued emphasis on
community involvement in schools.4)

As the last point in the announcement above shows, the government

envisage a “continued emphasis on community involvement in schools”. This
is the main feature of Community Day Secondary Schools that distinguishes
them from Conventional Secondary Schools.

6. Policy Crisis/chaos within the Community Day Secondary

School sector

The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), an overarch-

ing policy document for the government of Malawi, acknowledges the various

16
challenges in the education sector emerging from previous policy initiatives.
Specifically, the MGDS5) states that:

[S]ome decisions which have been taken over the past few years,
have negatively affected the quality and relevance of the education
being provided. The sudden declaration of the Free Primary Edu-
cation Policy, the conversion of the former Distance Education
Centres (DECs) to Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS)
and the use of untrained and under qualified teachers in the system
due to inadequate number of professionally qualified teachers, af-
fected the quality of education at both primary and secondary lev-
els.

In other words, Community Day Secondary School sector has been

encountering serious problems, which include (taking into consideration the
overlaps in education policies, some of the problems highlighted include the
other educational sectors and not CDSS only): lack of community participa-
tion; poor standards/quality of education; increased dropout in the number
students and decline in the number of qualified teachers; and poor housing and
school infrastructure.

6.1. Lack of community participation

The establishment of Community Day Secondary Schools is meant to

be largely community driven through the already existing local development
projects. The government is supposed to provide the learning materials, teach-
ers and other related resources. A study by MacJessie-Mbewe (2004a) ex-
plores the relationship between rural schools and rural communities in Malawi
as well as the extent of community participation. The study reveals that “there
is lack of school involvement in the communities though the communities are

17
greatly involved in the school development activities” (MacJessie-Mbewe
2004a). Among other studies, two studies by Rose (2003a; 2003b); see also
note 2; stand out as authoritative in relation to Malawi community participa-
tion in education. From these studies it can be deduced that some of the prob-
lems that have emerged in this participatory approach include: non-
empowerment of women, exploitation in the participation process, misunder-
standing of the difference between participatory democracy and representative
democracy and lack of clear guidance and training on participation.

6.1.1. Non-empowerment of women

The general issues of community participation in education in Africa

in relation to gender is closely examined and discussed by Rose (2003a). In
her study, she “examines whether community participation in education, as an
end in itself, is contributing to the transformation of gender relations”. The
significance of Rose’s study2) is that she discusses various forms of commu-
nity participation in education and their corresponding consequences. Above
all, she cites examples from Malawi which persuasively demonstrate that
community participation in education in Malawi, as well as Africa, regres-
sively affect the empowerment of women. The study revealed that women do
not have decision making powers in Malawian community school committees
and the unintended consequence is that earlier successes on women empow-
erment are being progressively eroded. Although not specifically focusing on
decision making itself, Maluwa-Banda (2004), also argues that the introduc-
tion of community day secondary schools has led to gender imbalance in fa-
vour of boy students. While focusing on the gender component of the policy,
Maluwa-Banda’s (2004) reveals that while “significant progress has been
made at policy level to introduce gender-sensitive educational policies…the
main challenge has been to put the gender-sensitive policies into practice in
the school management and learning.”

18
 6.1.2 Lack of clear guidance and training on participation
Community participation largely depends on school committees. How-
ever, there is no clear guidance of what committee members are supposed to
do and they also lack appropriate training (Rose, 2003a). In some cases stu-
dents have failed to attend school due to inability to make development “con-
tributions” by their parents. Parents/communities are often not involved in de-
ciding about their contribution how the funds are to be spent. Partially funded
school projects by externally institutions such as MASAF do not enhance par-
ticipation because the communities regard them as burdensome when they
demand the communities to honour their contributions.

6.1.3 Exploitation in the “Community Participation” process

Rose (2003a) acknowledges that the terms “community” and “partici-
pation” are highly debatable, and she practically demonstrates from Malawian
cases, that this lack of clarity on the definition has led to its manipulation by
policy makers and implementers to achieve the intended goals. Rose’s (2003a,
2003b) studies unreservedly show that the popular notion of community par-
ticipation tends to produce unintended outcomes often marked by exploitation
and inequality.

Rose (2003a) argues that community school committees are not di-
rectly involved in school affairs and only limit themselves to “development
work” and even in these development works, it is teachers who decide what
has to be done; thus community members are not genuinely involved in deci-
sion- making.

19
 6.1.4. Misunderstanding of the difference between participatory de-
mocracy and representative democracy
There is lack of interest in communities in participation of school or
other development activities after the 1994 democratic elections due to a mis-
understanding of the difference between participatory democracy and repre-
sentative democracy. As Rose (2003a) puts it, “people feel that, through par-
ticipating in elections, they have passed responsibilities for schooling to those
they have elected”.

6.2. Poor standards/quality of education

According to the observation made by Gwede (2004), the quality of

education in CDSS (especially in Mulanje district) has significantly declined
over the period from 1994 to 2004 as a consequence of the new CDSS policy.
Some of the causes of this decline are attributed to lack of qualified teachers
and lack of adequate learning-teaching resources. According to Craig1) most
teachers in CDSS were trained to teach the primary school curriculum and
they find it very difficult to handle the secondary level education. Further-
more, “some even teach subjects that they themselves did not pass at
MSCE…they usually absent themselves because they are afraid of embar-
rassment.” Although it is well acknowledged that supervision can have a posi-
tive impact on student academic achievement, it has been noted that most sec-
ondary school teachers are not supervised. According to an observation made
by Kadzamira1) “even a minimum of one visit to a school per year is not being
met; many schools are visited once every 2 or 3 years”.

20
 6.3. Increased dropout in the number students and decline in the num-
ber of qualified teachers

The Centre for Educational Research and Training (CERT)1) points out
that the number of CDSSs students by 2004 had significantly declined by
20.9%. The main reason for the dropout is that parents and guardians are less
willing to send their children to these schools which are generally viewed as
of mediocre state. Apparently, when some students are selected to these
schools, parents opt for particular private schools where standards are seen to
be far much better than CDSSs.

Although the government mentioned that it “would begin the deploy-

ment of Diploma and graduate teachers to the Community Day Secondary
Schools”, by 2000 this was largely not achieved. In general, although the
number of teachers increased by 83% from 5,905 in 2000 to 10,805 in 2005,
only 23% of these were qualified.1) Interestingly in CDSSs’ the number of
qualified teachers had significantly decreased from 45.1% to only 7%. In
2007, of the 4,813 teachers in CDSSs, only 930 were trained (19.3%).6)

A specific case highlighting this problem is captured in an article that

appeared in the Malawi News of 24 Feb-2 March 2007. The article entitled
Ugly face of education at Nampthungo CDSS: Two teachers man Form 1-4,
states that at Nampthungo CDSS, enrolment has plummeted just because there
are extremely few teacher: two teachers only manning four classes. Some of
the reasons for this shortage of teachers include lack of teachers’ houses and
lack of office space. Interestingly students who had been asking for transfer
“have been denied to do so and this led to chaos”7) (emphasis added).

6.4. Poor housing and school infrastructure

The accommodation for community day secondary school teachers is

largely in a pathetic situation which leads to poor quality of teaching services.

21
More importantly, the school structures themselves are often constructed by
community members without serious regard to quality hence they end-up ap-
pearing as “temporary” structures. Most of them don’t have a library, recrea-
tion or sanitation facilities. A study by Volunteers Service Organization
(VSO)8) captures this scenario as articulated below:

[M]ost schools had basic infrastructure only, many were dilapi-

dated and neglected. Typically, classrooms were old, dusty and
equipped with at most a chalkboard and a limited number of
desks and chairs. Often they did not have glass in the windows,
and were vulnerable to prevailing weather conditions: leaky in
the rainy season, stifling during hot summer months, freezing in
winter. Teachers” housing mirrored this pattern, with teachers
frequently inhabiting dwellings that suffered from poor mainte-
nance and infrastructure and lacked electricity, running water,
good sanitation and cooking facilities.

7. Underlying order within the crisis

Despite the crisis and chaos in the Malawi education system as high-
lighted above, there is demonstration that the system is moving towards a self
regulating mechanism which will ultimately create an orderly complex educa-
tion system. These positive moves towards underlying order are: Decentraliza-
tion of the education sector; Construction of boarding facilities for girls in
some CDSS; Increase in the number of tertiary teacher training institutions;
Established the Teacher Service Commission and increased programmes for
teachers’ welfare; Political commitment and significant budgetary allocation
to the education sector; Increased access to secondary school education; Im-
proved management through cluster system.

22
 7.1. Decentralization of the education sector

In order to enhance efficient and effective decision making, the gov-

ernment embarked on an over a decentralization policy in all its sectors in-
cluding education. In this regard, the Ministry of education is divided into six
administrative education divisions. The Southern region of Malawi has three
education divisions (each division is comprised of several districts), namely:
Shire Highlands Education Division; Southeast Education Division and
Southwest Education Division. In the Central region, there are Central West
Education Division and Central East Education Division. The Northern region
has one education division called the Northern Education Division. Each divi-
sion is headed by the Education Division Manager (EDM) and below him/her
is District Education Manager (DEM). Furthermore, for effective administra-
tion and management, secondary schools in each division are grouped to-
gether (between 7 to 15) in what are called clusters. This comprehensive de-
centralization has had a positive impact on education management especially
for CDSSs. Gwede (2004) supports this assertion by arguing that “decentrali-
zation of the education system is, therefore, of paramount importance with
regard to the administration and management of CDSSs in Malawi.” He also
adds that “It means giving the local community, thus from where pupils come,
an opportunity to participate in the management of these schools.”

7.2. Construction of boarding facilities for girls in some CDSS

In order to discourage increasing drop-outs amongst girls, the govern-

ment has started the construction of boarding facilities for girls in some
CDSS. So far the communities have welcomed such moves and although it is
too early to assess, it likely that the large drop outs that were previously wit-
nessed will be a thing of the past. The project that started in 2007 and spent
MK 800 million by June 2007, intends to build more than 20 girls hostels as a
way of empowering females through education and started with the first phase

23
of 7 schools.9) These hostels are going to be built in CDSSs and will be ac-
commodating 420 female students. All this is inline with the MGDSs’ key
strategy in education to “Improve the teaching-learning environment to reduce
absenteeism, repetition and dropout rates for both sexes.”5)

7.3. Increase in the number of tertiary teacher training institutions

Shortage of secondary school teachers has largely been attributed to

limited number of tertiary institutions offering degree programmes in educa-
tion. The University of Malawi was for a long time the only institution offer-
ing this degree programme (while Domasi College of education has been of-
fering diploma programmes). Recently, the government added one public uni-
versity, Mzuzu, which among other programmes, its main intake is in educa-
tion. Apart from these public institutions, there has been a major increase in
the number of private tertiary institutions which mainly target education
courses: Lakeview College, Livingstonia University, Catholic University (al-
though currently not fully credited, plans are underway to ensure that they are
monitored by the newly instituted Malawi National Council for Higher Educa-
tion). In another effort to further increase the number of qualified secondary
school teachers especially in CDSSs, the government through donor funding
introduced distance learning through Domasi College. In this programme,
CDSS teachers who are unqualified go through a three-year distance educa-
tion in various areas and are upon successful completion awarded a diploma.
The programme has so far witnessed a major increase in the number of quali-
fied teachers being deployed in CDSS. Related to this development is the
government effort through assistance from USAID in capacity building for
key education sectors: Malawi Institute of Education (MIE), Malawi National
Examination Board (MANEB), Ministry of Education, University of Malawi
and Domasi College of Education. Several officers were identified from these

24
institutions to undergo further training (Masters and PhD studies) and this has
undertaking has greatly improved the capacity of the said institutions.

7.4. Established the Teacher Service Commission and increased pro-

grammes for teachers’ welfare

Lack of teachers’ welfare has been one of the main reasons why most
of them have been abandoning their profession (especially at secondary school
level). The government recently established the Teacher Service Commission
so as to ensure that the welfare of teachers is adequately addressed. The com-
mission is responsible for among other things the recruitment, promotion, dis-
cipline and analyzing the conditions of service of all government teachers in
the country. Previously, these issues were handled by the Civil Service Com-
mission. The problems that were commonly being experienced by teachers is
that the civil service had overgrown to the extent that the welfare of teachers
were being neglected or overlooked. In November 2008, the government se-
cured a K7 billion (USD 50million) World Bank loan to construct 1,000
teachers’ houses across the country.10) The government also set in the
2007/2008 budget some money “to pay all arrears to teachers to uplift morale
and that HIV positive teachers, numbering 3,000 would be getting K4,000 ex-
tra money each month.”11)

7.5. Political commitment and significant budgetary allocation to the

education sector

The government has also showed keen interest in the development of

the education sector in general. There has been a significant budgetary alloca-
tion to the Ministry of Education such as a 14.1% of the total national budget
in 2007/8 and 12.5% for the 2008/9 period.10) And in 2008 alone, 30 CDSS
have been targeted to be provided with libraries, teachers’ houses and science

25
laboratories.10) This is a major breakthrough for the CDSS that have dilapi-
dated and archaic infrastructure. In the State of Nation Address in May 2008
under the theme, “Malawi: A Nation of Achiever”, the President recognized
the important role that education plays in national development. Among other
things, he promised: upgrade teachers to Diploma, Bachelors or Masters de-
gree levels; and construct hostels at 10 girls secondary schools.12) In the
2007/8 budget, the government set apart some funds “for hardship allowances
for teachers as a way of luring them back in public schools.”11)

7.6. Increased access to secondary school education

Although MacJessie-Mbewe (2004b) argues that the introduction of

Community Day Secondary Schools has not adequately helped to address the
question of secondary school access in Malawi, the available data shows oth-
erwise. Enrolment in DECs in 1998 (just before they became Community Day
Secondary Schools) was 132,455 and 1999 after the introduction of the new
policy, the enrolment increased to 166,781. Gwede (2004) notes that the larg-
est number of the pupils in secondary schools is enrolled in CDSSs

7.7. Improved school management through cluster system

Trigu (2004) investigated on the impact of Malawi Secondary School

Cluster System (a form of decentralised system of school management) on the
management of CDSSs in Blantyre district. Trigu (2004) found that the cluster
system brought about visible and positive changes in the management prac-
tices of CDSSs. Some of the indicators of this improved management include
availability and management of school records, sound financial management
practices, improved supervisory skills as well as improved community partici-
pation. In relation to community participation, Trigu defines it in the context
of the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA). In order to measure community

26
participation he focused on two indicators: the extent to which the PTA as-
sisted the school projects as well as disciplining of students.

8. Conclusion: lessons from chaos-complexity theory in the Minis-

try of education’s CDSS policy

It can be deduced that the education policy of introducing CDSS was

followed by a crisis in the sector as evidenced by poor quality and irrelevance
of the education being provided. However, confirming the chaos-complexity
theory, the education system has not been passive as it has witnessed a re-
emergence of several innovative ways of solving the said crisis. This concurs
with Kershaw & Safford (1998) who argue that “this ability to deal with com-
plex and dynamic natural systems suggests strongly that chaos theory has the
ability to reveal the underlying regularities in the emergent relationships be-
tween educational providers and their student”. Specifically, some of the les-
sons learnt from underlying regularities in the education sector emerging from
chaos-complexity theory can be summarized as followed.
First, there is a notable innovativeness in the education system. Most
of the education programmes that the government is currently engaged in are
response to the free-primary education policy and subsequent creation of
CDSS. Without the creation of CDSS probably these positive outcomes
couldn’t have emerged; such as establishment of the Teacher Service Com-
mission and introduction of cluster system.
Second, more and more CDSSs are being established in the country
(thus increasing access) and each school being established takes into consid-
eration the lessons and observations made on other previous schools. Ulti-
mately, improved quality of education will be attained.
Third, the earlier education crisis led to an increased number of private
and NGOs partnering with government in the area of education examples are
GABLE, Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education etc. In addition,

27
there are now more opportunities for context specific education policy imple-
mentation within the said decentralized sector.
Fourth, unlike in the past, there is an increased public interest, aware-
ness and participation in the education sector. This general public inter-
est/debate on education policies is mainly generated by the socio-political
controversies surrounding the education policies themselves. The media has
also significantly contributed to this debate.
Finally, since the Education Act of 1962, there was no strategy for
community participation but recently there has been a development of a Na-
tional Strategy for Community Participation in School Management. One pos-
sible factor for the development of this strategy is the general chaos that en-
sued soon after the implementation of free primary education and CDSS pol-
icy.

NOTES
1. Centre for Educational Research and Training (CERT): Issues in the Edu-
cation System of Malawi: Evidence from Research. Paper submitted to Ministry of
Education, March 2005.
2. Rose, P. (2003). Communities, gender and education: evidence from sub-
Saharan Africa.
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/file_download.php/557aa4c1cc008d3a0807fc336b40c3e
dCommunities,+gender+and+education.+Evidence+from+sub-Saharan+Africa.doc
3. http://www.see-educoop.net/education_in/pdf/15_62.pdf
4. Secondary School Teacher Education Project (SSTEP). Community Day
Secondary School Policy. New Bulletin, June, 2000.
5. Malawi Growth and Development Strategy. Volume 1, Lilongwe: OPC.
6. Education Statistics 2007 Malawi. Lilongwe: Ministry of Education, Sci-
ence and Technology.
7. Malawi News, February – March, 2007 (D. Mmana).
8. Volunteers Service Organization (VSO). What makes teachers tick? A pol-
icy research report on teachers “Motivation in Developing Countries”, 2002.

28
 9. Melawi News, 9-14, June, 2007 (D. Mmana).
10. Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education (CSCQBE). Press
Release: Any vision/dream about national prosperity should start with adequate in-
vestment in the education sector, 2008.
11. Daily Times, 17 July, 2008.
12. Weekend Nation, 7-8 June, 2008.

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* Happy M. Kayuni,
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Chancellor College,
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P.O. Box 280, Zomba, Malawi
E-Mail: [email protected]

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