INTRODUCTION

Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic on 11 March 2020, and
Malawi declared its first case on 2 April. On May 4, there were 41 confirmed positive cases of
COVID -19 and 3 deaths. A State of Disaster was declared by President Arthur Peter Mutharika
on 20 March including the following restrictions. Schools were closed on 23Rd March and
gatherings of more than 100 people at places such as churches, rallies, weddings and funerals. He
further urged the government to suspend the hosting of international meetings and banned public
servants from attending regional and international meetings.
Not closing
CRITERIA MERITS DEMERITS
Economic  Entrepreneurial activities will continue  Lack of foreign currency that are
in learning institutions since students obtained from international students
will still be in need of accommodation, this will lead to devaluation.
stationary and transport services.
 Government will spend much on
 Increase in government revenues and teachers risk allowances since
tax since the private schools will still be teachers are refraining from
operating. teaching for fear of contracting the
disease.
 The teachers standard of living will  For the sake of precaution measures
improve since they will be receiving risk government will spend much in
allowance in due course of their work course of buying resources for the
 Social mixing may still occur outside of prevention of pandemic, such as
school with less ability to monitor personal protective equipment
especially among older Students. (PPEs).

 Disproportionate impact of children

being out of school whose
parents/family members are hourly
and low-wage workers

Healthy  Some students come from households

aspects where there are no other siblings to be  The pandemic will be at increase
interacting with, this increase their since gatherings, congregation and
mental problems. But being in school interacting will still be there.
will provide them chance to access
mental health services and interacting
with their peers hence improving their
mental health.
 One of causes of overweight and obese
is inactive (sedentary) life style, many
students’ and teachers lead sedentary
life style and fond of binge eating when
 at home. So being at school help them to
live active lifestyle and prevent
overweight and obesity
Social  There will be continuity in interaction
aspects between teachers and students there by
improving their class activeness
 Social mixing may still occur outside of
school with less ability to monitor,
especially among older students hence
decision of closing school doesn’t hold
water
Technology  Students with disability like eye
aspects problems cannot do online learning and
will still need face-face learning.
 Government will not spend a lot money
for online classes; these include radio
and TV programs, publishing books for
reading at home.
 Internet bundles to be purchased per
required
 Pressure reduced on technological
services due to decrease in demand
hence provision of improved services
Closing
CRITERIA MERITS
Economic  Government will not spend a lot of
money in buying resource for
precaution measures for example,
person protective equipment (PPE)
for schools.
 The money which could be used as
pocket money and tuition fees will be
allocated for other developmental
activities.
 Increase in labor force at household
level
 Government will allocate the
allowance fee for teachers for other
important development activities.
Health  Reduce spread of Covid-19
 Since one factor that propel the
spread of covid-19 is frequent
interaction. Thus this interaction
will put both teachers and students
at risk
 Familiarization with technology
will be low since they will not be at
pressure of accessing information
online.
 Service providers(MTL, tnm and
airtel) won’t get feedback if their
services are faster or not because
there will be constant number of
internet users
DEMERITS
 Government will spend a lot of
money to fund online learning.
 Loss of salaries and wages for part
and full time teachers.
 Slow progression of entrepreneurial
activities since some business within
and around school premises will
stop. For example accommodation,
restraunts, stationary and transport
services
 Malnutrition impact of children
  Helps contact and epidemiological
tracing
 It gives time for potentially exposed
individuals to show symptoms while
at home
 It provide protection for older staff
and students with underlying medical
conditions
 It gives time for fully understanding
of local Covid-19 situation.
Social  Increases social distancing amongst
immediate school environment.
 Ensure that people can limit their
interaction with others and slow the
spread of the virus.
 Children at home had time to interact
with their parents
Technological  Service providers (MTL, tnm and
airtel) will improve their operation
since there will be high demand of
internet users.
 People were exposed to advanced
technology for example zoom
 It was an advantage to some students
that are shy on face to face learning
being out of school whose
Households are food insecure since
in schools they benefit from school
feeding programs.
 High levels of overweight and obese
since many students’ and teachers
lead sedentary life style and fond of
binge eating while at home.
 The demand will be high in heath
service provision in several
community clinics services
 Limited interaction
 High rate of school drop out
 Teenage pregnancies and early
marriages
 Increase in child prostitution
 High population rate as people were
being confined.
 Conflicts at home
 Stress due to isolation
 High school seniors likely to lose
ability to participate in their prom
and graduation ceremony.
 Government will spend a lot of
money for online classes; these
include radio and TV programs,
publishing books for reading at
home
 Technical knowhow of the gadgets
used for e learning system
 Poor network
 Students with disability like eye
problems cannot do online learning.
 Divided attention of students during
online learning on other things
since most of them were
concentrating on social media
 It disadvantaged some students who
prefer face to face learning system.
Based on scrutinization of merits and demerits on the decisions of whether government should
close schools or not, the evaluation were not only based on number of merits or demerits but also
the strength of individual point. On the evaluation of decision of not closing the schools the
following were the observation: it could have adamant impacts on economy since it is affecting
the hub of economy which is government in the following ways. There is reduction in revenues
and tax to government because some revenues comes from private schools and other
entrepreneurs. On health the decision of not closing school could have negative impacts on most
people since the causative agent of spread of covid-19 is embedded in interactions. On the social
criteria the decision of not closing school was brilliant decision ever, this is so because there are
huge negative impacts which have happened while students were at home. And technologically
the decision of not closing school is good because of Malawian’s capability with technological
context.
On evaluation of the decision to close school the following were the observations. Economically
it was posing balanced impacts under merit and demerits. On health issues, the closing of schools
had many benefits to students based on imperative data of the study of covid-19. Socially closing
of schools have huge negative impacts because of an alarming rate of unplanned and early
pregnancy, sexual transmitted diseases and abortions. But technologically there could be
balanced impacts on both merit and demerits.
So the overall evaluation shows that closing of schools have brought many negative impacts both
to government and several households and it can be concluded that the decision of closing
schools was not good