Friday, March 29, 2024

Poverty in Zambia is man-made-Mwape

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ZCSD Executive Director Lewis Mwape
ZCSD Executive Director Lewis Mwape

The Zambia Council for Social Development has charged that poverty in Zambia is man-made.

Council Executive Director Lewis Mwape says time has come for society to revolutionalize policies employed to ease vulnerability, income inequality and youth unemployment.

Mr Mwape observed that poverty could be curbed through investment in education and skills infrastructure that would absorb those who fail to cross the education sieving mechanisms that has given rise to the existing education pyramid. 

He said the ZCSD has an increasing discontent over ramifications created by the country’s education pyramid structure which seems to confine learners to destitution and near extinction. 

“We also regret that the Ministry of Education has imposed unrealistic examinations policy that excludes and sentences children from poor families to poverty of ignorance and bars such vulnerable children from any progress beyond grade 7, 9 or 12.,” he said.

Mr Mwape noted that at primary school level, a lot of children are enrolled but fail to reach or attain secondary and tertiary education and qualifications on account of lack of sufficient progression learning spaces.

“As an organisation we are grieved and puzzled that annually learners are pushed out of the education system as thousands of pupils and students fail to proceed beyond primary, secondary, college and university learning levels.”

He added, “ZCSD is concerned that in the Zambian Education Pyramid structure, a lot of children and young people enrolled at primary level disappear and remain an accounted for. The same happens at secondary level. We see a lot more people entering college and university but only a handful graduate. Where do our pupils and students go to, do they evaporate?”

“ZCSD is aggrieved that in rustic Zambia,  the situation is more dire as a lot more children especially the girl-child is married off as early as the fourth grade, with parents seeking to profit on account of a sibling being too old to remain in  less rewarding classroom,” Mr Mwape said.

15 COMMENTS

  1. It is a given that poverty is man made. It is made by politicians. This is especially true in sh1thole countries like Zambia.

    • I think the real shi1tholes are the cowards who flee their countries, become second class citizens in foreign lands then look down on their countries while citizens in those countries pride theirs and call you “mukwerekwere”. I don’t remember Germans running away from their broken down country after WW2 or the Japanese. They stayed and built and didn’t blame the politicians for their failures. Dr. Sh1thole….

    • You cant compare Germans and Japanese to people from sh1thole countries. Sh!thole countries have problems that were solved 300 years ago in these countries you are referring to.

    • That’s what you have been colonised to believe by your white masters. That’s why you sh1tholes rush back to be second class citizens in their countries. Asians and South Anericans decolonised their minds and that’s why they are successful today but Africa is plagued with educated sh1tholes like you who contribute nothing to the continent. Dr. Sh1thole….

    • Read your history. The’re millions of Europeans, including Germans who emigrated to the United States in the 19th century. The very best of Europe, including Albert Einstein, Nicola Tesla and millions of other scientists. That’s why The United States is so developed.

  2. Mr Mwape stop wondering where all those learners go who do make it though the system. Do some research and you will know what happens to the learners instead of speculating about learners evaporating. You are contributing to the problem by just scratching your bolas and wondering aloud.

  3. This analysis is not new and I recall a similar article not long ago where we debated the shortcomings of the educational system in our country.

    One of the main problems that remain unresolved is that there are very few or no institutions that offer any form of training opportunities to those that have not been able to make it to/through university or College. There is still too much focus on degree or Diploma holders as the only ones with the answers to overcome poverty when that is not the case at all.

    German industry, for example, offers training opportunities for practical experience and easier job entry into various companies. This has proved to be very effective in keeping youth unemployment from rising.

  4. Just like God Created Man, and Man Created Religions – the same goes for Poverty and Hunger being Man- made, in spite of the abundant Resources at our disposal.
    Poverty is lack of Money, and Hunger is lack of Food.
    The Education System and Reforms have not addressed the Core Problems hampering us to pull ourselves out of the quagmire of Underdevelopment

    Education and Training are the Dual Carriage -ways and Bridges between Underdevelopment and Development. Most Developed Countries have ensured that both Education and Training are vigorously pursued, not at the expense of the other.
    The main purpose of Primary and Secondary Academic Education is to eliminate illiteracy, permanently.
    Bachelors Degrees afford people to acquire Information or Knowledge, which is essential in Decision…

  5. The problem is there is no popular or democratic movement that can oppose the neoliberal policies that are being pushed all over the world all the time. There are no non-neoliberal parties in Zambia, because no one remembers a time before neoliberal indoctrination.

    Why was there no national referendum on the acquisition of the Eurobond debt? Why didn’t anyone insist that dividends were collected by ZCCM-IH, and instead take on the Rothschild barons’ Eurobond debt?

    This is why there is now inflation, which means ordinary people pay for it. Why shouldn’t they have a say through a referendum first?

  6. Both government and the citizens are guilty. Successive governments have politicized everything including giving free food etc without growing the economy. In the end we’ve depleted the resources and hence the situation we’ve found ourselves in. The opposition is even worse as it promises heaven on earth when they know very well that this is next to impossible. The citizens are reckless and without imagination because they expect subsidies from government. A farmer gets farming inputs worth 2,000 kwacha every year for free but has nothing to show for it. Mines were sold to foreigners whose only interest is to make money, not improving lives. The blame game hasn’t spared us as people just point fingers without offering solutions.

    • BaNdanje, balance me here. You say Farmers receive K2000 annually without showing results? What agri inputs can be bought from 2pin. 10kg maize seed, is K300. fertilizer K300/50kg. from 2pin you can only grow 1 ha. With poor yields. dry spell now too much water. Farmers will harvest 6 x 50kg bags of Maize. then sold at K1.2/kg. Giving them an annual income of K360.00. Plse baane tondolo aliwama.

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