Muslim organisations in the southern African country of Malawi are making pioneering early child education and child care through free pre-schools in rural and poverty infested areas, where such educational facilities were non-existent. The schools are for children between the ages of 3 and 6. They are offered food hand-outs to help them enhance their health status, a major requisite to a healthy growth and development. The pre-schools are helping to address some of the problems faced by vulnerable children, mostly orphans and those from poverty-stricken families. Generally, there are no government run pre-schools in the country. Mostly, these institutions are run privately or by faith organisations. A survey shows that Islamic organisations are the first to penetrate into most of the remotest parts and the densely populated poor urban locations of Malawi.
Qudrat Issah, a teacher at a nursery school run by the Bilal Trust in the district of Chiradzulu, said the pre-schools are helping to iron out differences that emerge as a result of social standing.