The Rays of Hope is a Non-Governmental Organization that uses a transformative education model to build teachers’ capacity, support learners, and provide financial inclusion solutions to youth for a productive life.
It nurtures children and youth with abilities essential for life management, academic excellence, and spiritual development to become competent leaders.
The organization envision seeing every child and youth access transformative education.
In partnership with Phillip Moris International (PMI), and a consortium with CYECE and AGE Africa, Rays of Hope implements a Holistic Opportunity for Pupil Excellence (HOPE) Project, a tutor-led tutoring initiative in Dowa District targeting standards 5 to 8 learners from Mtsilo, Kalonga, Senga, Chulu, Simbi, Kalikulu and Chambizi primary schools. This initiative will complement the already existing project called ‘End to End Scholarships’ which is supported by Phillip Morris International.
Presenting the initiative to the District executive committee (DEC) in Dowa, Rays of Hope’s Programs Manager, John Zakeyo, provided a rationale for the project HOPE Project saying that the current number of learners in the targeted schools selected to national and district level secondary schools (2024 PSLCE results) only stood at 2.1% and 6% respectively.
The majority, 86.3% were selected to community day secondary schools. End to End Scholarship Program supports learners who are selected to dissent secondary schools, and currently, the number of students who make it is low, as highlighted above.
Zakeyo further said his organization would complement the efforts of the schools by providing free tutoring lessons to the learners after school hours and strengthening teachers’ capacities to enable them to teach well. He further said that the HOPE initiative is designed to increase the chances of secondary school selection of learners in senior primary school classes in the selected schools in Kasungu and Dowa.
Ultimately, the project will contribute to the high completion and retention rate of learners in higher primary school sections in the Dowa and Kasungu districts. An increase in learners selected to district and national secondary schools means more learners benefiting from secondary school end-end scholarships.
In his remarks, Dowa District Council’s Acting Chief Planning Officer Yusuf Laki welcomed the program into the district appealing to partners to support it so that it reaches out to all the intended beneficiaries in the district.
Laki called on partners to share the progress of the projects which are being implemented in the district and sign a Memorandum of Understandings with the Council and the CSO Network to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability purposes.
Phillip Morris International (PMI) will fund the implementation of the program with an annual budget of 71,000 US Dollars for the two districts of Dowa and Kasungu.
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