UK Heaps Praise on Zambia’s Education Progress

On behalf of the British government, High Commissioner Rebecca Terzeon lavished praise upon Zambia’s education system during a meeting with the Minister of Education, Douglas Syakalima earlier this week.

Ms Terzeon singled out the School Feeding Programme, which has 106 participating school districts, for praise, hailing Zambia’s decade-long record of providing free meals to school pupils nationwide. This has had the effect of significantly reducing absenteeism, and “boosting numbers of healthy learners” across the country, Mr Syakalima said.

Another great stride acknowledged by Ms Terzeon is the Education For All policy established in 2021 which, through the abolition of all fees in general education, made education the right of all Zambian children for the first time. A significant consequence of this was an expansion in access to schooling for girls, a policy goal that was reinforced by the Keeping Girls in School (KGS) programme, which has to date provided grants to 30,000 Zambian girls to support their access to secondary education.

At the meeting, Ms Terzeon lauded Zambia’s “innovative model of delivering education to underserved populations”, and claimed that “better educated countries are likely to be more prosperous, which is a win-win, benefitting those in the country itself and also those who will trade with them now in and in the future”.

Finally, Ms Terzeon expressed her strong support for continued cooperation between the British and Zambian governments concerning the education sector, through both developmental assistance and the charitable work of the British Council, with the view that such cooperation can serve as a precursor to deepening economic and trade relations.