At least 24 community schools are to be reconstructed into strong permanent structures and will be roofed with iron sheets in Namwala district of Southern Province.
Namwala Member of Parliament, Robbie Chizhyuka said in an interview that the 24 community schools would be built out of the K260 million Constituency Development Fund (CDF), which has been released to the area.
Major Chizhyuka said the constituency was given K200 million this year. The other K60 million was meant for last year but it was not released.
He said the development committee in the constituency decided to build permanent community schools in the area because education was a priority.
He said the K260 million would be spent on constructing strong brick walls and on iron-roofing the schools, to replace the current muddy brick walls and grass thatched roofs.
Major Chizhyuka, who said the whole K260 million was currently being distributed, explained that each community school would not have 2×1 classroom blocks, with a headmaster’s office built.
He said communities have been asked to provide material and meets costs for the floors of the schools in a 75 per cent government and 25 per cent community contribution in constructing schools.
He said Namwala has 48 community schools, adding that they were not in a state which would provide a conducive learning environment for pupils.
“The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) idea is the best initiative in the development of a constituency which is more potent that any other idea in the fifth National Development Plan,†he said.
He said CDF should be increased because it directly benefited the constituency.
Major Chizhyuka said the development committee in his constituency would next year consider improving the health sector and consequently improve the issue of water and sanitation in the area.
And Major Chizyuka has observed that the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP) has failed to achieve its intended objective because of the poor winning off system.
He said government should have put in place strict measures that would ensure that those that were supposed to be wined off did not get the packs again.
He further said only a few people, about 9 per cent of the vulnerable but viable farmers were on the FSP currently, the development he said was not benefiting the country much.
Recently minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ben Kapita threatened to withdraw the FSP if it continued to be poorly managed.
Mr. Kapita said the programme was working well in areas where it was properly managed, but some people were frustrating its efforts.
Major Chizhyuka said only 150,000 farmers, out of the 1.3 million vulnerable but viable farmers in the country were on the programme.
