10 Years Of Education Under The PF
Since the Patriotic Front came to power in 2011, the percentage of children enrolling in primary school has dropped by 10%. As a result, hundreds of thousands of young Zambians are going without a decent education every year.
Thankfully, individuals who do make it to primary education will generally complete the full primary education syllabus. Nationally, 91.8% of children who attend primary school will complete Grade 7.
In spite of this, the figure hides severe regional and gender disparities across the country. In Lusaka, only 78% of children who make it to primary education complete Grade 7 and in Northern Province the same figure is 81%. Girls especially are more likely to drop out of the education system in both upper primary and secondary grades, with fewer girls than boys also moving from primary to secondary education.
Barriers To Education
Barriers to the education system in the country include fees introduced after Grade 8 as well as the long distances some children have to travel to class due to a lack of schools in rural areas. For girls it is harder to obtain an education due to lack of menstrual hygiene facilities at schools as well as teenage pregnancy and child marriage.
The number of children in primary education has dropped by 10% since the PF took power in 2011.
Further Education
Individuals who successfully make it through both primary and secondary school may choose to attend one of the country’s universities. One benefit of attending these universities was that students under the Student Loans and Higher Education Scholarship schemes received meal allowances, to help them financially through their time at university.
However, on the 6th February 2019 Professor Nkando Luo (now President Edgar Lungu’s running mate for the August general elections) announced that her ministry had, with immediate effect, stopped disbursing the stipend.
The decision caused outrage amongst students at the affected institutions, who approached parliament and said they would go to court if the government did not reverse its decision to scrap the meal allowance. The move was said by students, to be unlawful.
“A great leader has to hear the people she or he represents, not make decisions for them; that is a dictatorship,” one student commented.
UNZA students protest after the government scrapped meal allowances for students on bursaries in 2016.
This isn’t the first time that the government created issues with regards to meal allowances at universities. In 2016 on several occasions the government paid meal allowances late to students. For those who relie on this important source of income to feed themselves each day, the mismanagement of the allowances by the government caused severe distress and upset.
Subsequently, students felt that their only option to get the government to listen to their pleas was to protest. The government’s response only made the situation worse, as they shut down the two universities affected.
Poor Quality Education
A report carried out by UNICEF also concluded that the quality of education offered within Zambia continues to be a challenge. The government’s education targets have also not been met. Their target for an average score of 40% in maths and languages was not reached in either Grade 5 or Grade 9, with less than 70% of students passing both Grade 9 and Grade 12.
Subsequently, it is clear to see that both student welfare and quality of education have not been a focus of the Patriotic Front (PF) government, resulting in poor standards of education within the country.
What has the PF done to resolve this?
In 2015 President Edgar Lungu promised increased access to education, a target which he has FAILED to achieve. His most recent promise, which sounds frighteningly familiar, hopes to ensure that no child will be left behind in the provision of quality education.
Having had ten full years to resolve the issue of poor quality education, as well as disparities in access to education within the country, it is brave of the PF to make further promises which, based on their track record, are unlikely to be met.