Best way for a school software company to set up Microsoft 365 Education (A1) for each school it serves in Malawi

kelvin moyo 0 Reputation points
2026-11-01T19:21:21.83+00:00

We are WoKeYaVA, a software company in Malawi. We are building Cromisis, a school management system that schools buy as a package.

When a school buys a package, we would like its teachers and students to start using Microsoft 365 Education email. We will not sell or charge for these email accounts. Teachers and students will pay nothing for them. Each account would belong to the school, under the school's own domain.

We want to help each school through this setup as quickly as possible, and have a few questions:

  1. Availability: Can a qualified school in Malawi still sign up for Office 365 A1 directly from Microsoft, or must it now go through a partner? I have seen conflicting information about this.
  2. Verification: Each school needs its academic eligibility verified. Is there a recommended way to prepare so that verification goes faster, and which documents do schools in Malawi usually need? Can a company like ours help a school with this, or must the school's own staff do it?
  3. Partner program: Would joining the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program help us support many schools, even though we will not resell licences? Is there a specific education partner route or contact for companies like ours?
  4. Managing accounts: Once a school is approved, what is the supported way for our system to create teacher and student accounts automatically? We assume the school's administrator would grant permission once and our system would then use Microsoft Graph, but please correct me if there is a better method. Does an A1 tenant have any limits on this?

We expect to start with one school and add more over time. Any official documentation or the right team to contact would be very helpful. Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For education | Other
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  1. Igihozo Gady 80 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-11-02T12:00:49.0066667+00:00

    Hello @kelvin,

    Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community.

    Based on your questions, I've addressed each point below: :

    1. Can schools still sign up for Microsoft 365 Education A1?

    Yes. Eligible educational institutions can still obtain Microsoft 365 Education A1. According to Microsoft, schools typically start with a free Microsoft 365 Education trial while their academic eligibility is being verified. If approved, they can continue with the education offering available to their institution.

    1. Can my company help schools set up Microsoft 365?

    Yes. You can assist schools with onboarding and configuration, but the school should own and manage its Microsoft 365 tenant. The educational institution is also responsible for completing Microsoft's academic eligibility verification process.

    1. Is joining the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program worth it?

    If you plan to support multiple schools, it can be beneficial. The program provides access to partner resources, training, and guidance that may help you support educational customers more effectively.

    1. What is the best way to create and manage teacher/student accounts?

    The recommended approach is for each school to maintain its own Microsoft 365 tenant and verified domain. Your application can then use Microsoft Graph, with administrator consent, to provision and manage teacher and student accounts while allowing the school to retain ownership of its data, users, and services.

    For References: (Verify eligibility for Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions | Microsoft Learn.)

    Hope this helps.

    Best regards.

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  2. Vincent Choy 11,380 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-11-03T06:56:55.83+00:00

    Microsoft's new program for Education and Non-Profits is called Elevate

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/elevate

    https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/solutions/education

    Malawi seems to be handled via Microsoft's Morocco office. Whether there is a education lead at that office is something you might need to explore, or the education lead for Africa might be based elsewhere.

    If you do not want to deal with the Microsoft piece yourself, you might want to partner with Techsoup Malawi which is a global Microsoft education / non profit partner.

    https://malawi.techsoup.global/

    As the Elevate program is still new, and with the tight staffing situation with Microsoft nowadays, you may find information about the education and non-profit outdated or not yet updated to Elevate program, or conflicting.

    Do note that the A1 plan has a number of restrictions, like limited total storage for the school, and Microsoft prefers schools to go onto paid (but highly discounted) plans. Also the for education products are quite feature rich and a school using the plan may expect their partner to also be able to provide support and enablement on some of its features beyond email.

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