By Chinoyi Chipulu
The National Action for Quality Education (NAQEZ) says while Zambia is boasting of free education under the UPND, it is regrettable that the quality of the service has heavily been injured.
And NAQEZ says the government has scored 40 percent on quality education and 85 percent on access to education in its three years in office.
In a statement, NAQEZ executive director Dr Aaron Chansa alluded the same to overcrowded classrooms across the country.
“NAQEZ believes that access to education is at 85% while the quality of education is at 40%. Currently, teacher- pupil ratios in almost all government schools are way beyond the standard of 1 teacher to 45 learners. Some of the classes are housing more than 120 learners .It is impossible for teachers to deliver quality education in these circumstances,” he stated.
Dr Chansa stated that the inadequacy of desks, computers, text books and laboratories in many schools had compounded the quality of education in the country.
“Shockingly, we still have schools in Zambia where learners are still standing up or sitting on the floor when learning. While the Constituency Development Funds has been used to try and resolve the desk crisis, too much dependency on this single and meagre fund has not helped to clear this particular academic menace,” he stated.
Dr Chansa stated that the government had not paid serious attention to the welfare of teachers in terms of upgrading their salary scales and providing decent accommodation hence making it difficult for most teachers to perform.
He also stated that the UPND administration had neglected to motivate teachers in Zambia.
And Dr Chansa stated that although Zambia still had few citizens out of school, the abolition of school and examination fees in January 2022 had attracted more than 2 million young people, especially those from poor families, into the public schooling system.
“Even though there are some parents still paying boarding fee, re-introducing free education has put the country among very few nations in Africa offering free education from Early Childhood Education to Secondary school level,” stated Chansa. “To compensate for banning school fees, the Treasury has impressively been sending grants to all schools. The only worry is the continued poor funding to primary and boarding schools.”
