Further concerns about standards in education and teaching methods prompted the Central Executive Committee of
the Malawi Congress Party to look into making detailed preparations for building a model secondary school that
would then be presented to the President in recognition of his leadership. When the matter was finally reported,
the President accepted the idea of building a model secondary school in principle but felt strongly that neither
the government nor the people could really manage to build the type of school that he had in mind.
The President stated explicitly that he wanted to found a grammar school, one that would be recognized for its
excellence not only in Malawi but throughout Africa and the world. His vision was to create a school modeled on
the best in the English independent boarding school tradition, producing boys and girls who could walk tall in
some of the best universities in the world, including Oxbridge, the Ivy League, and, of course, Chicago and
Edinburgh. His boys and girls, drawn from all districts of Malawi, would be able to compete with the best on equal
terms. They would be smart, well-mannered, disciplined, hard-working, dutiful, good communicators, potential
leaders, and sharp — Malawian and African citizens of the world.
In July 1977, the Founder established the Board of Governors for Kamuzu Academy, and a month later the first
meeting was held in Blantyre. Some Governors visited the famous public schools in England and Scotland to discuss
aims and to view buildings. On 4th September 1978, the Founder laid the foundation stone of Kamuzu Academy, which
can be seen on the right at the top of the steps at the entrance. The name, Academy, though
originally a center of learning in Ancient Greece, is a reminder of the Founder's education at Wilberforce Academy
in Ohio, USA, whose clock tower is a model for the clock tower which is so prominent a feature of Kamuzu Academy.
The Academy's distinctive architecture with its Romanesque arches, cloistered walkways, ornamental lake, and
landscaped gardens — a haven for birdlife — makes it, quite literally, a garden of learning that few
schools in the world can emulate.
The official opening of Kamuzu Academy by the Founder and Proprietor took place on 21st November 1981, though in
fact, students selected on the results of Primary School Leaving Certificate Examinations (PSLCE), Junior
Certificate Examinations (JCE), and Malawi Certificate of Education (MCE) Examinations had been attending classes
for over a month. The Founder approved the recommendation of the Board of Governors that 21st November be observed
as Founder's Day every year. Students, parents, and staff are now celebrating the completion of 25 years since
that important occasion. Kamuzu Academy Alumni are living, working, and studying throughout Malawi, in several
African countries, in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. They are active in almost every field of human
endeavor, including the arts, business, government services, environmental conservation, the professions, armed
services, sport, tourism, and especially medicine. The contributions of Alumni over the last two and a half
decades and in the decades to come will more than offset the cost of their education.