ZAMBIA has been selected under phase II of the UNESCO-China Funds-in-Trust (CFIT) Project, a flagship programme on enhancing quality teacher training in Africa.
The announcement was made at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Wednesday during the meeting of representatives of different countries who gathered to review the initial phase of the CFIT project which has so far been rolled out in 8 nations in Africa.
The CFIT project aims to enhance the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), including internet and mobile devices to support the target countries in enhancing their Teacher Training Institutions.
First for Education at the Zambian embassy in France Mr Hendrix Kapaipi, says the focus is to increase the quantity and improve the quality of both pre-and in-service teachers.
Mr Kapaipi says under the support of the Chinese Government, phase I of the project was launched in 2012 and began with a budget of US$8 million which catered for eight countries namely Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Namibia for the period 2012–2015 and Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Tanzania, and Uganda for the period 2013 to 2016.
He says during the two-day meeting, it was announced that out of the US$4 million allocated for phase II, US$2million would go towards supporting the eight countries that were under phase I to continue into the second phase while the other US$2 million would go towards two new inclusions to the project, namely Zambia and Togo.
And Zambia’s Ambassador to France, who is also the Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, Mr Humphrey Chibanda, expressed gratitude for the generous support rendered by the Government of the People’s Republic of China to Zambia’s education sector.
I feel sorry for these funds, when these projects are being implemented, can UNESCO & the relevant people must be present to make sure that all the money, and I mean all the money goes to good use otherwise ACC will have a case months after that money is given out.
Even training teachers we have to beg…really laughable!