Kamuzu Academy

Kamuzu Academy sits in the bush about 30 km southwest of Kasungu, a sprawling campus of red-brick buildings, chapels, and playing fields. It is still operating as a private school, and the gates are not generally open to casual visitors, but the cluster of buildings rising out of the surrounding farmland is striking enough to be worth a slow drive past.

If you have an interest in postcolonial education or in Banda's peculiar style of rule, ask in Kasungu about arranging a brief visit. The academy occasionally welcomes researchers and guided groups.

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A story
Hastings Banda — Malawi's first president, classically educated in the United States — founded Kamuzu Academy in 1981 as an elite boarding school modelled directly on Eton. For its first decade it taught Latin and ancient Greek to Malawian children, who were selected from across the country, with all expenses paid by the state. Critics called it a colossal vanity project; supporters point out it produced doctors, lawyers, and academics for a nation that needed them.

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