SCHOOLS RUN OUT OF DESKS

By Jessica Mwansa

MINISTER of Education Douglas Syakalima says school enrolments have increased from 4 million to 5.8 million between 2020 and 2023 as a result of the Free Education policy therefore resulting in inadequate desks.

In an interview with The Scoop, Mr. Syakalima said at primary school level, numbers had increased from 3.2 million to 4.3 million while at secondary school level, numbers have moved from 859 thousand to 1.5 million during the same period.

“The increase in enrolment has resulted in 80 to 120 learners per classroom in most schools, especially in rural areas, a situation which has also resulted in inadequate number of desks.  This positive trajectory in school enrolments necessitate the need to put in place measures to address challenges of classroom space and desk deficits.

To promote participation and access to education, the Government introduced the education for all policy, making education free. This implied that barriers such as school fees were eliminated, ensuring that everyone had an equal opportunity to learn without being disadvantaged for financial reasons.  As a result of the education for all policy, enrolment increased at all levels, at primary school level, from 3.2 million to 4.3 million between 2020 – 2023 while at secondary school level the increase is from 859 thousand to 1.5 million. However, positive trajectory in school enrolments necessitate the need to put in place measures to address challenges of classroom space and desk deficits,” Mr. Syakalima said.

He said his Ministry, through the Zambia Education Project Implementation Unit (ZEPIU), has been manufacturing and distributing desks to selected schools in the country adding that the Community Development Fund (CDF) has also been a major contributor in ensuring that some schools in various constituencies had desks.

“The Presidential directive to have no learner sit on the floor by the end of 2023 is therefore guaranteed. However, the Government is constructing Early Childhood Education (ECE) satellite centres across Zambia’s 10 provinces. The Government will construct ECE centres in zonal schools and satellite centres in the surrounding primary schools in a phased approach.

“To build on the achievements made by the Zambia Education Enhancement Project (ZEEP), my ministry negotiated for additional financing of US $120 million from the World Bank during the project’s extended period of up to December 2025. The largest proportion of the funds will be for the construction of 120 secondary schools countrywide,” he said.

He said the 120 schools will have more infrastructure than the 82 schools that were previously built under ZEEP in phase one.

“In this regard, each school will have a school library, computer laboratory, school hall, three science laboratories and a total of 12 teachers’ houses.  The construction of these secondary schools will create a minimum of 27,000 school places and 4,400 weekly boarding facilities.

“To remedy this situation, I strongly wish to appeal to all stakeholders to complement the Government’s effort in building more classrooms, especially at primary and secondary school levels. More importantly, in the spirit of inclusiveness, there is also need to build infrastructure for children with special education needs, ensuring that no child is left behind,” he said.

He said in order to achieve the desired quality of education for learners, the Ministry of Education will endeavour to conduct teacher recruitment every year to build on the 30,496 teachers that were recruited and deployed last year adding that for the year 2023, the Ministry has planned to recruit 4,500 teachers for ECE, primary and secondary schools.