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TIKWERE IRI

Malawi College of Distance Education (MCDE) is a department under the Directorate of Open Distance and e-learning (DODeL) in the Ministry of Education. It is mandated to provide education and training through open, distance and e-learning.

At MCDE we are specialists in producing OdeL materials for primary, secondary and teacher education. At primary level, we develop and produce interactive radio instructions (IRI). These IRI has been in use for more than 25 years and has demonstrated that it can be effective on a large scale at a low cost. In Malawi it is being implemented under Tikwere Radio series (let’s climb) by MOE through MCDE. The Tikwere (IRI) was originally funded as a project by USAID under the School Fees initiative, an initiative to assist countries in developing low-cost strategies for improving learning outcomes and improving attendance and completion rates in countries which have abolished school fees. It was implemented under a Cooperative Agreement with Education Development Center (EDC), which partnered with the Malawi College of Distance Education (MCDE).

MCDE offers the following Tikwere services:

  • Designing and developing IRI scripts
  • Producing IRI programmes
  • Broadcasting IRI programmes on radio
  • Reviewing IRI programmes
  • Monitoring IRI programmes
  • Orientating teachers on IRI programmes

Currently MCDE has the following Interactive radio programs:

  • school-based Std 1 - 4
  • learning from home Std 1-8
  • life skills radio programs (Std 1 – 8 and form 1 and 2)

These radio programs are in form of instructions that are directed to a teacher or learner to aid in the teaching and learning process. Thus far, MCDE has produced these programs which are aired on MBC radio1 and 2 and on Education broadcasting station (EBS) which is on line.

Apart from the above mentioned programs and interventions, MCDE has also helped in the production and recording of Interactive Audio Lessons (IAL) for teacher training. These programs provide guidance to the training of primary school teachers.