By Daily Revelation Editor
”At yesterday’s cabinet meeting, l want to confirm that the cab memo came through to reinforce education, so that somebody with a wild mind does not come and remove free education. Yesterday this minister and his team tabled a cabinet memo. To know, pass it to parliament and cabinet approved yesterday,” said President Hichilema. “Then it will go to Parliament for legislation to make free education legal. One more step, one more step. And l believe Parliament will approve the bill without reservation.”
We wholly support President Hichilema’s policy of providing free education to the Zambian masses.
It is actually a fact that millions of Zambians were excluded from school enrollments owing to the burden placed on the households, especially the less privileged ones, to pay school fees. We actually used to experience situations where students used to have their academics disturbed during the many times those who had not paid up were sent packing back to their homes by the school authorities, while others feared to report for classes for fear of being chased away.
However, that system is now gone and those who wish can enroll their children into school anytime they want. By the government’s estimation, over 2.3 million Zambians have enrolled into school from the time the free education policy was rolled out. We hope that the free education being offered from Grade 1 to Grade 12, or is it Grade 1 to form 4 can be scaled up to university level. Any investment in the education sector is actually a net gain and not a loss, and future generations will definitely reap just rewards from the same.
The fact that the government is now talking about enshrining free education to become law may further aid the country in terms of entrenching the policy into the country’s fabric. Some have of course accused Hichilema of doing the same in order to benefit himself politically. It actually could be possible that he is doing the same to politically benefit himself. However, whether for politics or other reasons, free education is a net positive for the country.
In saying so, we do not mean to say that there are no inadequacies in the manner the policy is being rolled out. Yes, there are inefficiencies in terms of the over enrollment, which place enormous challenges on the very lopsided teacher to pupil ratio, plus the inadequate infrastructure to accommodate the many pupils. But since this is a policy that will now be enshrined into law, the challenges should now speak to the need for increased spending towards the education sector to address issues that are making the policy look ineffective right now.
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By Daily Revelation Editor
”At yesterday’s cabinet meeting, l want to confirm that the cab memo came through to reinforce education, so that somebody with a wild mind does not come and remove free education. Yesterday this minister and his team tabled a cabinet memo. To know, pass it to parliament and cabinet approved yesterday,” said President Hichilema. “Then it will go to Parliament for legislation to make free education legal. One more step, one more step. And l believe Parliament will approve the bill without reservation.”
We wholly support President Hichilema’s policy of providing free education to the Zambian masses.
It is actually a fact that millions of Zambians were excluded from school enrollments owing to the burden placed on the households, especially the less privileged ones, to pay school fees. We actually used to experience situations where students used to have their academics disturbed during the many times those who had not paid up were sent packing back to their homes by the school authorities, while others feared to report for classes for fear of being chased away.
However, that system is now gone and those who wish can enroll their children into school anytime they want. By the government’s estimation, over 2.3 million Zambians have enrolled into school from the time the free education policy was rolled out. We hope that the free education being offered from Grade 1 to Grade 12, or is it Grade 1 to form 4 can be scaled up to university level. Any investment in the education sector is actually a net gain and not a loss, and future generations will definitely reap just rewards from the same.
The fact that the government is now talking about enshrining free education to become law may further aid the country in terms of entrenching the policy into the country’s fabric. Some have of course accused Hichilema of doing the same in order to benefit himself politically. It actually could be possible that he is doing the same to politically benefit himself. However, whether for politics or other reasons, free education is a net positive for the country.
In saying so, we do not mean to say that there are no inadequacies in the manner the policy is being rolled out. Yes, there are inefficiencies in terms of the over enrollment, which place enormous challenges on the very lopsided teacher to pupil ratio, plus the inadequate infrastructure to accommodate the many pupils. But since this is a policy that will now be enshrined into law, the challenges should now speak to the need for increased spending towards the education sector to address issues that are making the policy look ineffective right now.
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