Evaluation of animal welfare education in primary schools in Lilongwe, Malawi

Abstract: Animal welfare issues are not considered as high priority in Malawi, a developing country in south east Africa, due to problems affecting the human population. In Lilongwe, the capital city, education programs are used to increase the awareness of animal welfare issues among primary school children. A study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of animal welfare in primary school children as well as two different teaching methods for animal welfare, namely humane lessons (HL) and Animal Kindness Clubs (AKC). The gender perspective, in terms of differences in attitude towards and knowledge in animal welfare, was also evaluated as well as the link between domestic and animal violence. The study was performed in collaboration with Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (LSPCA). A questionnaire of multiple choice character was handed out to 249 children aged between 9 and 15 from six different schools. Three schools received HL and the other three had already active AKCs. The children filled in the questionnaire, participated in the intervention (either three HLs or three AKCs), and filled in the questionnaire again. In total, 146 children filled in both the preand post-intervention questionnaire, 11 children only filled in the pre-intervention questionnaire and another 92 children filled in the post-intervention questionnaire. All children, regardless of the gender, learned a little about animal welfare, but they seem to learn more from the HLs than from the AKCs. Many children seemed to have a good knowledge base in some animal welfare areas before the intervention took place. A high proportion (93 %) of both boys and girls had experienced violence against animals and about half of them had experienced domestic violence or both domestic violence and violence against animals. The conclusion was that the base level of animal welfare knowledge is good regardless of gender in both HL and AKC group, but the education programs, HL more than AKC, only improve the knowledge to some extent. There seem to be a link between domestic and animal violence but further studies are recommended to penetrate the subject.