By NATASHA MUSUNSE –
THE free education policy holds promise for a great future, a promise that seems to have been bestowed on the Zambian people by the United Party for National Development government.
With this policy in place, Zambia has joined other countries in addressing the common obstacle to access to education.
This is yet another fulfillment of the promises President Hakainde Hichilema made in the run-up to the 2021 general elections; that of making primary and secondary education accessible to all.
After fulfilling this promise, Mr Hichilema posted the following on this Facebook page:
“Here’s where we are now: Increased teachers’ salaries; removed school fees in public schools; removed examination fees; removed PTA fees; recruiting 30,000 more teachers; providing additional funding for our most vulnerable pupils through the CDF; building 120 new schools in 2022; providing free sanitary pads for our young women in public schools; spending over K18 billion on education in our first year.”
From the foregoing, it can be said free education is simply education funded through taxation or charitable organisations rather than tuition fees.
This implies that the government fully covers the cost of tuition, Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA) fees from early childhood, primary to secondary school education andabolishes the grade 12 examination fees.
The decision to provide free education, accompanied by the recruitment of 30,000 new teachers, is set to address some of the challenges in the education sector such as pupil-teacher ratio.
The free-education policy seems to have been welcomed by many, especially those who faced many hardships and were unable to ensure their children accessed continued primary and secondary education.
One Lusaka resident spoken to has defined education as a means used to leaving poverty and that if it was only accessed by those who had the means, it would mean the poor remained poor and the rich became richer.
Lydia, a domestic worker of Mtendere Township in Lusaka, wishes the initiative were introduced earlier,
“I feel that had I had access to education, maybe my life’s direction would have been different. But because my parents had died and relatives were not interested in undertaking the responsibility of paying for my school fees and sundry, no one bothered. In the end, I was left to do chores at home which later meant I could only be a domestic worker,” says Lydia.
She plans to ensure that her children her children derive maximum benefits from the free-education policy.
“It is easy to deal with the small bills like school uniforms if the fees are free,” she adds.
And a parent at one of the schools in Lusaka, only identified as Mr Phiri, believes the move to introduce free educationshifts the focus of finances to other needs because the money that would have been committed to school fees can now be used to improve some people’s standard of living at home.
In a separate interview, a deputy head teacher at a Lusaka school, who prefers to remain anonymous, has this to say:
“When the policy was just introduced, I assumed it would be administered the way it was in the [Zambia’s first president Kenneth] Kaunda days and expected hiccups.But now that it has been rolled out, it has both positive and negative effects. Being a capitalist, the idea of ‘free’ didn’t quiet sit well with me.
“Schools had no money, but the grant coming from the ministry [of Education] is really helping to do a lot of operational work. Schools are now a business and, just like any other business, need money to run,” he says.
The grant, he says, now enables schools to employ PTA teachers to fill the gap, especially in mathematics and science subjects.
This occurs as the school waits for teacher recruitment, in such cases we would engage a substitute teacher who helps with the overloading of work. We are now able to plan and budget.
The gap analysis is very small compared to what used to happen.
Some of the changes noticed are that the learners have also benefited a lot, in that they no longer must be disturbed with reminders of due school fees and can concentrate on learning and passing their classes. Instead of having to be stressed with requests to call parents to sort out the due fees.
Teachers too can concentrate on teaching. They don’t have to go to class, dealing with those that are unable to pay fees.
Therefore, improving the quality of lessons. This policy has also brought about expendable cash for school events and calendared activities that might require money, like sports”.
He advises that guidance counsellors be used to identify those that would be more suitable recipients of the free education.
Then government can concentrate on just those, rather than everyone not pay. Because some children the government is helping come from homes that can easily fund the education and the evidence is in that their siblings are able to attend private schools.
It would be better if the burden of free education was shared with such parents, even in a minor way.
Understandably so, government needed to come out with it as free for all, but hopefully this can be addressed with time, because it will not be sustainable for an economy like Zambia’s.
When asked if the quality and standard of education is affected by the introduction of free education, he said, “Yes and No. While other schools have enrolled more students that teacher available, the equaliser is the employ of the 30,000 teachers by government. What could have been a problem has somewhat been addressed. Student-teacher ratio is not great, but half a cake is better that nothing. With regards to our school, I would say the teachers are now well adjusted. One thing to address is following up of teachers to make note of whether they have arrived in the places of employ.
There are too many teachers in the urban areas at the expense of schools in rural areas.
Some teachers have run away from where they were sent. I feel someone must be able to serve at least 2 to 3 years (even when married) before they are given the opportunity to move from where they have been placed, to avoid constant recruitment in one area”.
The perspectives on the introduction of the policy differ because of many reasons.
Firstly, others believe the move was done in haste and government should have taken some time to prepare and organise the policy arrangements to ensure all parties involved are ready.
Secondly, it is too early to decide what the effects of the policy are yet, maybe a review can be done after some time to see what aspects of the policy need improvement and which sectors must collaborate to make the policy a success.
And lastly, while everyone might appreciate free education, not everyone needs such assistance and a growing economy like Zambia’s would greatly benefit from some sort of input from parents that are able to pay for school.