MMD President Nevers Mumba says education system should suit the needs of the country.
And Action for Quality Education Executive Director Aaron Chansa has called on Government to come up with a system that will help students from private universities and colleges access educational loans.
Dr Mumba said the country needs to invest in the kind of education that addresses our needs as opposed to the copy and pest type of education system.
“We need to invest a lot of money into education. We need better school buildings and better classrooms. Our education curriculum must not be a copy and paste type from the West but localized by a process of amalgamation and experimentation according to our unique circumstances,” he said.
He adds that he believes in robust educational system because it solves a lot of problems.
“An educated population is more productive; investors are attracted by the availability of a large skilled workforce; Democracy flourishes and matures as citizens are better able to understand national issues and not be easily manipulated by corrupt leaders. Civil wars are diminished because people have better things to do with their educated minds than take up arms.
Crime reduces as people engage in productive activities. Wealth increases as Africans invent new ways to make money with their knowledge. Even the health of a nation improves as people get educated in hygiene and basic cleanliness. The positive benefits are incalculable,” Dr Mumba said.
Meanwhile Action for Quality Education Executive Director Aaron Chansa said there is need for government to help students in private universities access student loans as education has become expensive.
He said government should work with reputable private universities and work out a plan with banks to help those that do not enter into government institutions on bursaries get opportunities of higher education.
He adds that doing so would help government offload some of the students on bursary because many students opt to apply to government institutions because of lack of sponsorship.
With the passing of the Higher Education Act and the establishment of the Higher Education Authority, it is hoped that the quality of tertiary education will now be addressed. One way to ensure quality education from the private universities is to have a grading system, like in the hotel industry where students from the highly graded universities can have access to the loan scheme. this will provide an incentive to the private universities to offer quality services. The issue of the loan scheme has been talked about for some time. It is high time that Government moved to implement it. As things stand right now, the bursaries scheme is unsustainable and a drain on the meagre resources of the nation. Currently even the public universities are being run like private universities with…
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