
Government has embarked on the construction of a High School in Nchelenge District of Luapula Province worth K 25 Billion .
The Ministry of Education Headquarters has awarded the Contract to a Chinese Firm, which has since started clearing the Construction Site located in Chieftainess Kanyembo’s area, about 35 Kilometres away from the District Administrative Centre.
The development has been confirmed to ZANIS in Nchelenge by District Education Board Secretary (DEBS), John Kalifungwa.
Mr. Kalifungwa says the School, which is expected to be completed by November this year will consist among other facilities, Classroom Blocks, Science Laboratories, and a School Hall.
He said some of the other facilities will include a Home Economics Section, Various School Departments, as well as Teacher’s Houses.
The DEBS said the move by Government to construct the School in Kanyembo area is welcome because the area is highly populated and its far from Nchelenge High School, which is the only learning institution offering education from Grade 10 to Grade 12 in the District.
[pullquote]“Currently we have only one High School in the entire District and as such some pupils fail to access Education as some parents fail to pay Boarding fees,” Mr. Kalifungwa said.[/pullquote]
“Currently we have only one High School in the entire District and as such some pupils fail to access Education as some parents fail to pay Boarding fees,” Mr. Kalifungwa said.
He said the advantage of having the School is that once completed, all pupils, especially the girls who are more affected will have
chance to progress to Grade 10 and beyond.
Mr. Kalifungwa said apart from educating Pupils, the establishment of the High School will also help individuals who want to improve their rade 12 Examination results as it will be a General Certificate of Examination (GCE) Centre.
He however appealed to Government to also consider putting up Boarding facilities at the Institution to enable pupils from the neighbouring District of Kawambwa and other areas to also access Education from the School.
Mr. Kalifungwa added that there is need to deploy more teachers in Nchelenge District not only to cater for the School under construction but for several other schools in the District.
And a Parent of Kanyembo has showered praise on Government for its decision to build a High School in the region.
Mr. Elijah Musonda says the move will go a long way in easing the burden of parents sending their children to School as it will now be near which translates in lower cost of Educating children.
[pullquote]And construction works at Mankonga High School, the first ever boarding school that government is building in Mpulungu are progressing smoothly.[/pullquote]
And construction works at Mankonga High School, the first ever boarding school that government is building in Mpulungu are progressing smoothly.
This came to light yesterday, when Mpulungu district commissioner Willie Simfukwe visited the school to check on the progress of the construction works at the site.
During the visit, the Chinese contractor found on site said the school was scheduled to be completed by June next year.
The visit also revealed that most of the buildings at the school including classroom blocks, students’ dormitories, teachers’ houses and ablution blocks were already roofed.
The contractor said his company will soon be doing final touches, before the school could be completed and handed over to the government.
[pullquote]” We had a lot of pole and mud schools in the district and we are grateful to government that now we have several schools in almost every ward in the district,” said Simfukwe.[/pullquote]
Meanwhile district commissioner Willie Simfukwe said the boarding school would be the first of its kind in the district from independence.
” We had a lot of pole and mud schools in the district and we are grateful to government that now we have several schools in almost every ward in the district,” said Simfukwe.
He said the boarding school once opened, would immensely benefit parents in the community who usually sent their children to schools outside the district.
Simfukwe said government was spending billions of kwacha to build the Mankonga Boarding school, adding that the development was a clear picture of how government was putting the peoples’ money to good use.
He said the people of Mpulungu had whole heartedly welcomed and appreciated the school project.
ZANIS