Thursday, March 28, 2024

Should female students cook for boyfriends?

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UNZA Students

By Nkole Nkole

THE remarks may have come off as unnecessary to some or completely irrelevant to others, but Minister of Higher Education Nkandu Luo had her own reasons for advising female students at higher learning institutions against cooking for their boyfriends.

According to Professor Luo, female students are at school to learn and not to practise their culinary skills by cooking for their boyfriends.
Her sentiments were shared when she made a visit to Kwame Nkrumah University in Kabwe last week and met some female students who are studying there.

Professor Luo advised the female students to take their education very seriously.

“What I know is that you come to school to learn and not to cook. Anybody who is doing that must stop and pay attention to school,” Professor Luo said during her visit.

The trend of cooking for one’s significant other is not uncommon at Zambia’s higher learning institutions and many seem to see nothing wrong with the gesture.

Some female students spoken to at National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) considered Professor Luo’s advice unnecessary.

“Food is just food,” remarked NIPA student Angel Chewe over the minister’s advice. “If my boyfriend is hungry and I am also hungry and prepare food for us to eat, it does not mean that I am losing focus on my studies.”

It comes down to who one is and what principles one has, according to Salima Zulu, who says there is no direct effect on her studies as a result of cooking for her boyfriend.

Salima says she cooks for her friends, including her male friends, and they too cook for her purely on a mutual basis.
“When they visit me in my room, I cook for them out of the kindness of my heart and when I visit them, they also cook for me, so it is not a one-sided thing,” remarks Salima.

Niza Sichone of Evelyn Hone College sides with Professor Luo, saying female students need to place more focus on what really matters.
“We do have boyfriends but it’s just not really proper. The time used to cook can be used for studying instead,” she says.

Niza explains how in some cases female students cook for their boyfriends and carry the meals they prepare all the way to their boyfriends’ rooms to serve them, as would happen in a home.

This she says is done on an exchange basis whereby a boyfriend returns the favour by helping his girlfriend with an assignment.

Another student named Precious Mwewa supports Professor Luo’s advice because according to her, that is something which should take place in a marriage and not while students are studying at college or university.

“I don’t agree because it is time wasting and you don’t even know if that person is the one you will marry, and that time you are wasting cooking for him can be used for something more important.

“I think dating should remain dating if you’re in school because cooking for your boyfriend is like getting married in school since that’s literally the duty of marriage partners,” the no-nonsense-sounding Precious says.

But for Jane Ngwira, unless there is some statistical data to prove that cooking for their boyfriends or for their friends in general affects their scores, Professor Luo’s advice is not relevant.

Jane feels as long as one knows why they are in school, it does not matter who they cook for. In her view, it is absolutely possible to balance a successful academic life as well as a romantic relationship, which includes showing care by cooking for your partner.

She insists some boyfriends are actually very supportive of their girlfriends and even encourage them in their studies.

“For me it is a give and take kind of situation. If you cook food for your friends, whether male or female, how does that come out as a distraction?” she wonders.

“If your boyfriend buys food and brings it to your room to prepare because you are both hungry, I don’t see how that can become a distraction because you are simply dealing with your hunger.”

Professor Luo’s advice did not just end with food, however. She also said government would not condone lecturers who resort to having relationships with students.

She advised female students to guard against being lured into relationships by their lecturers.

“If there are any lecturers who want you, anyone should pick up the phone and report to me so that I phone your vice chancellor [Racheal Kabeta],” she said, and proceeded to give the students her mobile number after they demanded to have it.

Professor Luo also urged female students in Zambia to aim high and not end at getting degrees because, she stressed, there is nothing exclusive for men. She insisted women can do anything.

13 COMMENTS

  1. What’s wrong with that ,not that it takes up there time,the female students just add more food and eat together. This is very normal thing and remember they are adults and know how to divide time. Sometimes ministers don’t have things to say.

    • Does it really matter who does what for who?
      The key concern for the institution MUST be health and safety reasons!
      If fire broke out it would be disaster to say the least for a start the fire brigade would arrive after 3 hours then take half an hour looking for a water source after which they would have discovered that there is no water.
      The best solution is to offer proper catering services period!

  2. They have better multi tasking skills as compared to men, they don’t even feel like they are doing something extraordinary when cooking.

    • Only your mother’s generation belonged there because they agreed to archaic rules from a retrogressive culture that enslaves women. Times have changed.

  3. THESE ARE TWO CONSENTING ADULTS WHO KNOW WHAT IS GOOD, BENEFICIAL, AND ROMANTIC FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIP. IF YOUR RELATIONSHIPS HAVE BEEN SOUR, BITTER AND OLD-FASHIONED, LEAVE THE YOUNGER ONES DO WHAT IS BEST IN THEIR GENERATION. A WOMAN IS DIFFERENT FROM A MAN. THAT IS WHY GOD MADE THEM TWO. IF SHE COOKS IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT SHE SPENDS ALL HER LIFE COOKING. WHILE SHE IS COOKING, HE IS BUSY WORKING ON HER ASSIGNMENTS. SO IT IS A WIN-WIN SITUATION. DON’T BRING YOUR POOR UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER EQUALITY TO THESE YOUNG AND FRESH MINDS YOU DIVORCED BITTER WOMEN.

  4. This is the case of a minister who has run out of things to say. She is so daft and can not manage her sector so to look important she has to come up with something that is so out of touch with reality. Don’t meddle in other people’s business. You do not know if the boy is the one supplying money or food for the girl to cook. The other thing is mind you business old lady! People have rights and freedoms to do as they please just like you have the freedom to f-ck whom ever you please and cook for them. Is it you paying the students salaries? Unless you are then you may have a right to say something. You need to come up with ways in how you are going to issue bursaries to poor students by raising money. You need to be finding sponsors and donors who can help students faced with financial…

  5. Pf are a bunch of dull clueless rats. For a person to be a student it means they have the ability to make informed decisions for themselves. If a woman wants to cook so be it. That’s her choice. At one end we call for women’s right to choose for themselves and then at the other end the Pf is telling women what to do by the very fact of saying they shouldn’t cook for men. Please stop trying to get our attention away from the many more serious problems under your useless government. Can we be given detailed reports on maize gate. Dogs

  6. Interesting question. Should female ministers cook for boyfriends? Should female MPs cook for boyfriends? Should female Lecturers cook for boyfriends? Should female police officers cook for boyfriends? Should female teachers cook for boyfriends? Should female doctors cook for boyfriends? Should female Presidents cook for boyfriends? Should female lawyers cook for boyfriends? Should female generally cook for boyfriends? Should female toddlers practicing adulthood cook for boyfriends? What is good or bad for all these female categories is also good or bad for female students. As long as pass cut off point for female students remain lower than male colleagues, female students will always find excess time to cook for boyfriends even if maids & chefs are provided for free.

  7. Off course the good Proff wouldn’t cook for anyone and this possibly extends to a host of other things that she wouldn’t do with or for others, and as a consequence see her current status. Take her selfish advice at own peril and end up like her!

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