Students learning with the Lifeline radio in an outdoor classroom at Chimbende Primary School

George, an eager 12-year-old boy in grade 3 at Saint Augustine primary school in Mangochi, Malawi proudly announced that he shares the information that he learns through the Tikwere! (Let's Go Up!) radio distance education programme with his friends who are not in school. "This encourages first time school-goers to join or children who have dropped out to start attending school again, helping increase attendance and lowering the national dropout rate," according to Sam Kalanda, the Ministry of Education's District Education Manager.

Mr Kalanda reiterated that there is a visible change in children learning with the radio as an effective complement to the traditional lecturing and rote learning techniques used by teachers in classrooms of over 150 students. Lifeline radios, with their solar and hand-crank charging options, enable daily access to Tikwere!'s interactive lessons and assist children hone their listening, speaking and writing skills. More than 13,000 Lifeline radios have been distributed to date, reaching an astonishing two million learners.

Children in Standards 1, 2 and 3 can be seen tuning into Lifeline radios in almost all 5,300 primary schools across Malawi, as a result of Tikwere!, the Interactive Radio Instruction programme implemented by the Education Development Center (EDC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The programme is now in its third consecutive year of 30-minute high quality lessons in Chichewa, English, maths and life skills every day.

The children treat the radio as a 'voice of authority', following its instructions and concentrating on the material it covers, making much better progress in class compared to the children who learn without Tikwere! and the Lifeline radios. According to a survey carried out by EDC, this difference in Standard 1 is 9.25% for Chichewa, 11.55% for Maths and 16.94% for English.

The teachers greatly enjoy Tikwere! and are more active when instructing alongside the radio, as they find it easier to control the class and explain difficult concepts more clearly. Tikwere! also strengthens social bonds within the communities and garners support from the parents, by initiating open discussions on 'taboo' topics like sexual and reproductive health, gender violence and child trafficking as well as passing on folk tales, stories and oral traditions to the children in the life skills section of the programme.

Lifeline Energy conducted a monitoring and evaluation visit in March 2010 with the assistance of EDC Malawi.

Students at Saint Augustine Primary School learning through the Tikwere! radio distance education programme.