By JAMES MUYANWA –
PAMBILO Mpumaula (not real name) is a Grade Five dropout living in in Senior Chief Mboroma’s area in the remotest valley section of Luano district in Central Province.
Pambilo, now aged 14 years, a double orphan who has been brought up by his widowed maternal grandmother, dropped out of school two years ago not because of his academic performance.
He was forced to do so by his grandmother’s inability to pay user fees and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) fee of K100 which the school administration was asking for.
The PTA fee was meant to pay a Grade 11 school dropout who was helping as a volunteer untrained teacher.
For the last two years, Pambilo has been dreaming of an opportunity to return to school because deep down his heart, he believed that this is the only way he can be empowered with means to change the economic fortune for him and his five siblings.
Therefore, when he heard that the Government would this year introduce a free education policy for Grade One to 12, it was a dream come true, which he albeit thought was too good.
Even before the schools could reopen on January 24, 2022, Pambilo took himself back there, where the head teacher happily welcomed him and after some formalities, advised him to report back on the opening day.
As the gates for the school were opening for the first term, Pambilo was among the first pupils to enter as he staged a comeback after a two-year absence, which to him seemed like lifetime.
Over many years, many Zambian children have dropped out of school at various stages, like Pambilo, despite their determination, all because their parents, guardians or other sponsors lacked money.
Indeed, in the immediate past, the success was dependent on the parent or guardian’s financial muscle to pay school fees, which came with other costs embellished in things like PTA, sports and project fees.
With the dawn of the new Government, aptly dubbed, ‘the New Dawn,’ things have changed and children like Pambilo just need to concentrate on their academic performance.
The Government’s free education policy positively and directly impacts on everyone who has a child attending classes at a public school.
This is regardless of the status of the child’s parents, guardians or other sponsors.
It seemed like utopian idea when President Hakainde Hichilema and his fellow leaders mooted the idea during their time in the opposition.
To create impact on parents and guardians taking their children to grant-aided schools, the Government has introduced a K600 per child subsidy on user fees for such schools.
Chief Government Spokesperson Chushi Kasanda says this is in addition to the grants which are already being provided to the schools.
This is further reflected in the Government’s removal of parents’ payment of examinations fees for public schools and its payment of K205 examination fees per Grade 12 learner in all grant-aided schools.
Ms Kasanda says the provision of the budget for the bursaries would be through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and that learners in secondary school who are not vulnerable would continue paying K1,000 per term, but without the K600 user fee.
Recently, some parents expressed delight over the free education policy, describing it as a financial relief.
Those interviewed in Ndola, Kitwe, Kalulushi and Kabwe said they felt relieved of the pressure to look for money to settle school fees.
Milimo Moyo, whose son was accepted to Kitwe’s Mukuba Secondary School in Grade 10, says the only expenditure that she incurred was through the purchase of uniform and books.
Ms Moyo says the introduction of free education would enable her to save some money which would help in growing her saloon business.
She says in the past, paying schools has been a challenge for her.
She said her son was constantly being sent away from school for non-payment of fees.
Ms Moyo commended the Government for the gesture.
“The free education policy has come at the right time and it will help most of us to save some money, which was almost impossible to do in the past,” she said.
Mary Mumba, another parent, says the money which would have been used to pay school fees would now be channelled towards starting up a business to support her family.
Ms Mumba, a widow, says the free education policy is a prayer answered to her struggles following the death of her husband two years ago.
Mary Chishimba, a mother of four who is based in Kalulushi, says it has always been a struggle to send all her children to school because of financial challenges, but now, she has a relief.
She says that with the introduction of free education, all her children were now assured of going to school up to Grade 12.
For Juliet Tembo of Ndola whose daughter has been accepted to Kanini School, free education is an equaliser as it gives chance to every child to attain education.
“Free education is good because parents who could not afford to take their children to school can now afford it. They (teachers) should keep up the spirit of hard work so that our children can attain the best education regardless of it being free,” Ms Tembo says.
To show the seriousness it attaches to free education, the Government, as early as the first week of January, released K324 million for the 2022 first quarter operational support fund for public schools.
That is aimed at facilitating the implementation of free education for all learners at early childhood, primary and secondary education level.
According to Secretary to the Treasury Felix Nkulukusa, with the release of the K324 million, concrete steps towards free education – aimed at abolishing tuition, PTA and examination fees that learners used to pay in public schools – were in motion.
He said to this end, Government grants to the public schools have been increased to meet operational costs that were previously financed by the abolished fees.
The secretary to the Cabinet said the funds would be paid directly to the bank account of each individual school countrywide, to ensure that proper operational arrangements are made before the opening of schools for the first term of 2022.
Bursaries for vulnerable learners, to be allocated through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), have already been released following the completion of guidelines and approval by relevant authorities.
Announcing the release of nearly K200 million for Secondary Boarding Schools and Skills Development Bursary Scheme for first term, Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on January 25 this year that the funds were savings from the elimination of subsidies on items like fuel.
Like what has happened to Pambilo, the impact of the free education policy has also been exemplified in Chipangali where sensitisation of residents about the policy has triggered a massive enrolment rate.
Initially, schools in the rural part of the district recorded dismal numbers in Grade one enrolments until authorities engaged PTAs to spread the word on the free education policy.
According to ZANIS, Kanyindula Primary School in Mgawa Village only had eight pupils enrolled in Grade One this year.
“This is because most parents in the village, under Chief Mafuta, did not know that Government had introduced free education which required them not to pay K80 school fees for Grade One enrollment. So the children are still at home,” says Joseph Mwale, a concerned resident.
The low turnout forced the PTA to embark on village sensitisation which triggered a rise in enrollment from eight to 50 within a few days.
At Chideza another primary school in the area, which had enrolled 60 pupils by opening day, the number increased to 100 after the exercise.
Explaining the initial poor enrolment at the two schools on behalf of other residents, Reuben Phiri says families rely on farming, which generates seasonal income for them.
“Some parents, because they already sponsor other children in school, did not want to add another burden of school fees by enrolling those due for Grade One. These are farmers who only have money once a year and were not aware of the free education policy,” Mr Phiri said.
So, go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, in countryside, valleys, townships, and everywhere that there is free education in Zambia!