Malawi: The Last Girl Standing - How One Teenager Fought Poverty to Stay in School

What the report says

Duana Muhammad, a 17-year-old from Mangochi in southern Malawi, used the National Youth Summit in Lilongwe to describe how poverty and early marriage continue to push many girls out of school. In the account published by Nyasa Times and distributed by AllAfrica, she said she was the only girl from her year group to reach Standard 8, while most of her former classmates left school and married young.

Her story highlights the pressure many Malawian children face as they try to stay in class. According to the report, Duana had to repeat Standard One after first enrolling in 2016, and later repeated Standard Four because of financial hardship. Even with those setbacks, she completed Standard 8 and sat her examinations, which she presented as a hard-won achievement rather than an endpoint.

At the summit, held under the theme on accelerating progress in youth development, she called on government and parents to do more to keep children, especially girls, in school. She praised free education as important support, but said more is needed to prevent early marriage and other barriers from ending students’ education. She also said she hopes to become a doctor, underscoring how access to schooling can shape future opportunities.

The broader significance of the story is that it reflects ongoing concerns about educational inequality and child marriage in Malawi, especially in rural and low-income communities. While this report centers on one student’s experience, it points to structural challenges affecting many families across the country.