Thursday, March 28, 2024

Abolished school fees, to result in increased enrollment – Fr Kapande

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Community Campaign to end Early Marriages(CCEM) Coordinator Amos Kapande has called for maximization of the available social protection programs to curb early marriages.

Father Kapande says there is need for residents to utilise programs such as Social Cash Transfer (SCT), and Food Security Pack (FSP) to address poverty related early marriages.

In an interview with ZANIS, Fr Kapande said that despite household poverty being one of the most widespread factor linked to early marriages, there are various social protection measures such as SCT and FSP aimed at addressing this issue.

He further reasoned that there is need to appreciate that the new dawn government has abolished school fees for primary and secondary levels, which he said households should utilise and ensure that girls access full school education.

“The excuse of not having monies to maintain girl child in school can no longer apply here as Government has abolished school fees, so we can expect more girls to stay in school and not to be married off early “, he commented.

The clergyman also cited the need for heightened sensitization in communities, charging that ignorance and defiance of the law needs to be tackled.

He observed that the situation of rampant early marriages is more chronic in Mkushi Chiefdoms such as Mulungwe, adding that it is even worse in all the six chiefdoms of neighbouring Luano District.

He stressed that there is need for concerted sensitisation from both Governmental as well as Non-Governmental Organisations(NGO).

13 COMMENTS

  1. Where are the clique supporters who were saying HEHH will not manage any free education ?????

    A work in progress ………

    Just from the millions the clique used to corruptly cream off the economy will subsidise primary education

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  2. PF stole this money meant for free education for the whole period they had been in power.
    The Zambian people are very clever and have punished this wayward gang of thieves which plundered the government coffers and left us with a $30bn bill .
    Never again shall we going see PF raise its dirty head . It should remain dead and buried.

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  3. I hope the President will not come up with another word where he has gone that will make a section of society angry like the word “Clique.” He should stop picking such words whenever he attending his meetings otherwise tatulefwaya ulubulu ifwe.

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  4. Free education should now be accompanied by a policy to penalize parents that keep children from school, especially girls.

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  5. You won’t find many comments when people who were saying it is impossible to implement free education policy, funny right! Looks like its only the beginning.

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  6. What I can here is that schools will be the poorest maintained in Zambia , and it will be a big challenge for teachers to keep up the standards really a challenge who will be cleaning those toilets and other related activities concerning this section.

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  7. PF stole all the money meant for free education the whole time they were in power. The Zambian people are very clever beacue they have punished this wayward gang of theives who had plunndered goverment coffers and left us with a $30bn bill.
    Never again would PF allowed to rasie its dirty head again , let it remain dead and buried.

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  8. @nshilimubemba, CDF funds will also contribute to the schools in each constituency. Local council need to really take control of fees, fines, tows, pernalty charges and markets. Thats money that should look at public toilets at markets and CBD. The money is there, get organised; thats HH7 message. Some people earn millions and have nothing to show for, Africa has Trillions worth of resources yet poor.

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  9. Cadres are uncritical, regardless of their party of affiliation. They love their parties and can die for them. Just one pronunciation of free education some cadres here think this has been implemented and it is a success story. We shall need to wait and see how this works out. KK tried this with proper funding, what happened. PF hurriedly reduced school fees and boarding fees. Schools were failing to pay for water, electricity, and pay salaries of support staff employed by the school board and PTA.

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  10. Yup – it’s unacceptable and a tragedy, that, girls would be forced into early marriage because the government was charging for basic education. Really disheartening, to realise that, in recent years, the charging stance has resulted in the deterioration of educational prospects for both, girls & boys – as opposed to how it was, soon after independence. We’ve been, shamelessly, retrogressing, whilst the rest of the world has been moving forward! Hopefully, now, the free education stance will end the rot.

    #plant a tree now!

  11. Was there a public school in Zambia which was charging school fees in primary schools? Other than K500 charge per year at secondary school which translates in K42/month was what public school children were paying. Otherwise congratulations UPND every newer goes a long way. The K42 may look small but it can buy some relish and when finally meali meal prices are reduced as promised during campaigns the difference will be felt because that money will be able to get probably a 15 or 20 kg bag of meali meal. Congratulations once again.

  12. nshilimubemba – You are too short-sighted to even find yourself on such a thread …the benefits of free education outweigh any of those issues especially in the long term. This is what happens when you were just borrowing money for consumption and living on a credit card building substandard infrastructures at grossly inflated prices….you need to go back for a reset back to secondary school or public library in the UK. Pull up your socks guys ..some of your posts are embarrassing…that PF MP who was caught on camera with his pants down said some thing similar to what you said in Parliament. What is shocking is that he was an former Education minister in Lazy Lungu’s cabinet that was the calibre of ministers Lungu had in his cabinet.

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