All employees of Neno Montessori Private School are sponsored to further their education including formal teacher training programmes

* As the school attains 100% pass rate in PLCE for the 4th consecutive year with all learners selected to secondary schools

* Going forward, the school intends to expand the reach to out of district clientele and to expand boarding capacity from the current 40

By Duncan Mlanjira

From humble beginning in 2014, using household garage and other makeshift spaces; three teachers and 4 learners, Neno Montessori Private School in Neno District now have around 180 learners and workforce of almost 20.

All employees are drawn from the local community and are being sponsored to further their education including formal teacher training program, says co-founder and director, Dr. Luckson Dullie when reached out to explain the school’s success of attaining 100% pass rate in Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) for the 4th consecutive year — with all learners being selected to secondary schools.

“Through ongoing mentorship and coaching, we continually improve the skills our staff to sharpen their competence to deliver high quality education,” he said.

The top 10 performing schools in 2024 PSCLE and JCE include Neno Montessori Private; Mikundi in Mchinji, Chitundu in Dedza, Tendo Private in Lilongwe West, Chimwala in Lilongwe East, Sankhulani Private in Nsanje, Kawere in Mchinji, Wongani Private in Mzuzu City, Alipo Private in Blantyre Urban and Comensoli Girls Catholic in Mangochi.

Dullie said in the 2024 results, of their 9 learners that sat for the PSLCE, 5 were selected to national secondary schools and the other 4 to the district secondary school.

The humble beginnings started when Dullie’s family moved to Neno District in 2014 when he attained the position of Executive Director for Partners In Health.

“Our son was 5 years old then and needed to start primary school,” he said. Our quest was that our moving from Blantyre to Neno should not affect his education.

“We therefore decided to start a school realising that we were going through a dilemma that many parents also face, especially parents from the different organisations and in the various sectors of public service.

“My wife, who had an accounting background, went back to school to study in education service in order to oversee the project. The school would be based on principle of bringing high quality standards to Neno so that parents moving there — including international staff from NGOs like Partners In Health — would not worry about their children’s education, particularly the very important foundational years of pre-school and primary school.

“Neno Montessori is a diverse community of teachers, parents and children working together in the method of Maria Montessori.

“We serve children of the ages of 2-13 providing rich learning environment based upon the belief that all children can reach their personal academic potential.

“We believe that the genuine cooperation of parents, students and educators creates an effective and highly successful experience.”

Dullie also said Neno Montessori also contributes to the local community through social service including support for the elderly and scholarships to children from vulnerable households.

“So far one elderly woman headed household and 10 children benefit from this outreach programme.

“For future plans, we’re intending to expand the reach to out of district clientele and we will expand boarding capacity from the current 40.

“We are also planning to build a purpose built nursery school that will link up with a special clinic at the hospital that caters for children born with various disabilities in order to provide a conducive environment for their cognitive learning stimulation.

“Our learners have gone out to perform well after Neno Montessori, said Dullie, who holds a PhD obtained from University of Bergen in Norway and he is in global health service with a focus on primary healthcare performance.

He is now Chief Leadership Development & Engagement Officer at the Partners In Health Global Office.

Maravi Express got to know of Neno Montessori last month during the joint commemoration of the 2024 International Day for Biological Diversity and the 2024 World Environment Day where Secretary for Ministry Natural Resources & Climate Change-Administration, Richard Perekamoyo applauded various partners for inculcating into young school learners the awareness of effects of climate change and the efforts being done in the management of the environment.

Among the performances and speeches were from Nohaviwa Levi, a nine-year-old learner of Montessori Private School, who was given a resounding ovation when she concluded her inspiring speech in which she ably articulated the need for the young generation to embrace environmental conservation.

She extended her “sincere gratitude” to all present, especially her fellow students, saying:

“Your presence has made this day so blessed and so meaningful [which] signifies the spirit of togetherness and patriotism in the commemoration of this joint event — as the saying goes ‘United We Stand; Divided we Fall’.

“Our environment is very important because it supports the ecosystem and as such we should not only fill our hearts with joy but seeing the theme as a reminder of us being patriotic in sustaining and balancing the preservation of the environment for it is our responsibility given to us by God from the beginning.

“I would like to recall that the global warming has completely distributed the ecosystem. In recent years, all of us had been keen to a well supportive ecosystem due to equal balances in environmental management.

“As of now, things are upside down due to adverse impacts of global warming. This has resulted in scarcity of some significant species in the environment.

“We are all witnessing these challenges globally — so what are we waiting for? There is need for an immediate action to be taken other than folding our hands in this hopeless time.

“Today’s theme has also reminded me of a famous Africa proverb that says; ‘A stitch in time saves nine’. We are not too late to hold hands together in maintaining and balancing a stable environment which may provide a supportive ecosystem.

“My fellow students, I would like to advocate for a mindset change in relation to this event. I understand that we are coming from different communities with different values, but we should see this gathering as a uniting point in purpose and that everyone should take a step forward in environmental and biodiversity preservation.

“Since we are leaders of today and of course tomorrow, we should therefore take this to our hearts positively regardless of our age, abilities as well as cross cutting factors. I hope one day we shall all come together, it may be at this place or somewhere else to celebrate with tears of joy after achieving our goals.”

Thus Perekamoyo applauded the stakeholders that the young minds  demonstrated their experiences, knowledge and mutual learning of biological resources conservation and management of the environment in general.

The event started with an awareness march from Neno Police Station to the community sports centre, joined by Perekamoyo’s delegation, police officers, primary school learners, students of Neno Girls Secondary School and various stakeholders.

And Pelekamoyo took cognizance that the young minds are in sync with the government’s call for the nation to preserve the environment as well as its biodiversity.

He savoured the enlightening performances that the learners gave that included the special speech by Nohaviwa, poetry and drama by Neno Girls Secondary School and performance from a group of learners under the counsel of Save the Children.