GOVERNMENT will only start providing free education from primary school to tertiary level once the economy improves significantly.
Education minister Michael Kaingu said the provision of free education to tertiary level remained a challenge for the Government until the economy improved.
Dr Kaingu said it was difficult for Government to absorb all students and give them bursaries which was a similar with the provision of medical facilities and services.
The minister was speaking in a speech read for him by the Ministry’s Director of Standards and Curriculum Cecilia Sakala during the official launch of the International Fund for Healthcare and Education Services (IFHCES) in Lusaka on Tuesday.
Dr Kaingu said the provision of bursaries would be compounded as they were several universities scheduled to become operational.
“Until our economy improves significantly, it will remain a huge challenge for Government to provide free education up to tertiary levels. Let me also seize this opportunity to call on parents and
guardians to invest in the education of their children,” he said.
The IFHCES intends to mobilise resources to support both financial services and health care. The Non Governmental Organisation targets to support 2,000 students in the 2015/2016 academic year.
Dr Kaingu requested that parents played their part in ensuring their children completed their studies by investing in their education.
“Let us work together and ensure Zambia is a haven of peace as we foster unity in diversity regardless of our political inclinations and ambitions,” he said.
IFHCES president Mapalo Chomba said there was need for the internal generation of resources as opposed to donor dependency.
Mr Chomba said there were few students accessing bursaries and that the NGO would supplement Government’s efforts to provide bursaries.
He urged students to desist from demonstrations but instead engage Government when they had academic challenges.
Me too politics still standing ba PF? Who are you kidding? You have failed, no vision, you do not belong in the now century, soo bushy, jus hanging on the string. How are going to create finance for that if you can even sort out the price of mealie meal. Anyway you will be gone soon
NO ITS NOT “ME TOO”. THIS IS MORE REALISTIC THAN JUST PROMISING WITHOUT ANY GROUND. YOU DON’T PROMISE GROWN UPS LIKE U ARE PROMISING KIDS. THIS IS THE WAY TO TALK TO GROWN UPS AND IT’S REALISTIC NOT WISHFUL THINKING “…WHEN THE ECONOMY IMPROVES..”
What are you talking about?Your comments don’t make any sense!!
This such a distasteful statement. More annoying than anything else. He says once the economy improves. To what point. This is such an arbitrary standard that has no real attainment point. Improve could mean anything. This is doable now if we cut the waste and manage our resources better.
Willie Nsanda has already spent over $ 300 000 at Milpark Clinic in RSA of which is funded from a struggling Zambia. The minister is telling the nation that free education will never come to pass
The government of edgar lungu must b supported by all,regardless of color,creed or tribe
ukukana ukusafya ichakufwala chabakalamba kuchabikila. kaingu is smart. he warned pf that if you do not listen to the cries of society, you will suffer the MMD way. How else can he accept that PF will never give free education? How and wen will the economy improve? Give us a time frame, but smartly says no goal cos it aint happening.
When will that be, Mr. Kaingu?
This sounds familiar. I remember the light at the end of the tunnel. The Bembas have a phrase “tukaba bwino kuntanshi”. Don’t hold your breath. It ain’t gonna happen.
What are the indicators for an improved economy anyway.? You bloggers claims that yu are learned and yet yu dont know the landmarks for the economy which is improving. Sometimes it pays to ask from people who understands issues better than you better still keep mute.
@spongebob. Okay we are asking nicely. Please tell us how that improvement will be measured. When we will know it is time for free education. UPND has a plan to do this now. If PF has no immediate plan to achieve this maybe we can bench them and put in a real number 9. The game is on now and you are saying we will score when we recruit a better striker. It will be game over by then. Ba sponge bob mwe baishiba please tell us how we will know the economy has improved enough.
Free education is a pipe dream.It’s just not achievable.Everytime HH makes it a campaign promise he loses my vote because I expect him to know that this feat is just not achievable in today’s Zambia.Same goes with free health…..and it would just be foolish for us Zambians to even expect this.
But free medical evacuations for leaders is not dependent on an improved economy.
@sponge, if you want to learn from us what the indicators of an improved economy are, just ask properly instead of issuing a tantrum. Since you are a sponge, your brain seems to be saturated with a lot of unwanted fluid, rendering it unfunctional. The indicators are there in the open for all to see. Just to mention a few: berserk exchange rates, abandoned projects as a result of failure to pay, gluttonous/mindless borrowing, unfavorable expenditure to income ratio, negative balance of payments, runaway interest rates and so on and so on. You cannot use a ‘tukaba bwino kuntanshi’ kind of promise where education is concerned. As the saying goes, ‘Educate your people or die’. And then you put Kaingu as Education Minister, where on Earth?
You Rabid dog! Do you imagine in your own wisdom that this PF economy will ever improve? Go tell that to your cousins and nephews in your village!
Oh yes. That will be in 2099.