High poverty levels in Mpulungu District has caused low enrolment and rampant absenteeism of class sessions at Mpulungu Basic School.

Mpulungu Basic School Head Teacher Happy Ng’ambi disclosed that the high poverty levels at Mpulungu Boma has greatly affected the pass-rate and the performance of the pupils at the institution.

Mr. Ng’ambi says boys has ‘abandoned’ classes and opted to go fishing while the girls are married off at a very tender age.

Mr. Ng’ambi says his school now supports 32 Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) , 18 by Community Development and Social Welfare Department while 15 are sponsored by FAWEZA and 18 assisted by the Society for Women Association of Zambia (SWAZ).

This brings the total number of OVCs to 83 but he expressed fears that the number wil increase owing to the high poverty levels in the district.

This came to light today when a team lead by Ministry of Education (MoE) Director of Teacher Training and Specialized Services Ruth Mubanga, Netherlands Ambassador to Zambia Harry Molenaar, Northern Province Education Officer Selisho Chanda, MoE Deputy Head of Infrastructure Bernard Mwange and MoE Senior officials from both headquarters and the province visited the institution.

The team are in Northern Province on a joint Donor/GRZ Monitoring and Evaluation inspection exercise of infrastructure, teaching and learning aid, staff establishment and pupil enrollment among other mitigation measures.

He explained that pupils cannot afford to pay K125,000 school fees per term and hence the reduction in class attendance at the institution.

He added that grade 12 results for 2006 was 62 percent by it extremely reduced by half in 2007 to 32 percent respectively because of largely fishing activities and early marriages.

But Director of Teacher Training and Specialized Services Ruth Mubanga urged the school authorities to conduct a vigorous sensitization in communities so that the pupils return to school.

Mrs. Mubanga said teachers are not only there to ‘receive’ salaries but help explain government programmes to the community and also be ready to work with people in the communities to avoid high rate of illiterate population/people.

She said government working with corporating partners is working very hard to make the education system more conducive for school going children.

The Director said government is providing teaching aid (books) recruited teachers and constructing classrooms aimed at absorbing more children to the education main-stream.
ZANIS/KC/ENDS/MM

Government says it is happy with the pace of construction works of Mpulungu High School in Mpulungu district in Northern Province.

Ministry of Education Director of Teacher Training and Specialized Services Ruth Mubanga says the pace of construction works at the new learning institute indicates that Zambia is on the right track of attaining the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in the education sector.

Mrs. Mubanga directed the District Education Board Secretaries (DEBS) in the country not to hold on to the funds but work hand in hand with the contractors engaged by government so that buildings are finished in the first quarter of the year, (by April 2009)

She was speaking in Mpulungu today when she inspected construction works at the Mpulungu High School site.

Mrs. Mubanga, who is accompanied by Netherlands Ambassador to Zambia Harry Molenaar, Northern Province Education Officer Selisho Chanda, MoE Deputy Head of Infrastructure Bernard Mwange and MoE Senior officials from both headquarters and the province are in Northern Province on a joint Donor/GRZ Monitoring and Evaluation inspection exercise of infrastructure, teaching and learning aid, staff establishment and pupil enrollment among other mitigation measures.

The Director of Teacher Training and Specialized Services said it is imperative that materials are at the site so that to enhance the construction works are scaled up because government working with corporating partners is in a hurry to improving the education system in view of the growing population.

The inspection team who visited the site found that the contractor, Hua-Jiang has five teachers’ houses, classroom blocks and boys and girls hostels.

And Netherlands Ambassador to Zambia Harry Molenaar said he is on the ground to see how moneys were being utilized.

Mr. Molenaar said his government stands ready to supplementing government efforts in the education sector so that challenges in the sector such as long distance to schools are reduced.

ZANIS/KC/ENDS/MM

A named man and woman of Ndopu village in Chief Sekute’s area in Kazungula District were on Monday crushed to death by an elephant in two separate incidences.

Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) Area Warden Stephen Malungo named the deceased as Margaret Situmbeko, 63 and John Mengo 28 both of Ndopu village in chief Sekute in Southern Province.

Mr. Malungo confirmed the sad news in an interview with ZANIS in Livingstone today.

He said the elephant first attacked the man who was coming from town and later pounced on the woman who had gone to buy some food stuffs from a nearby shop.

He expressed sadness over the incident but said that ZAWA was making efforts to track down the elephant to bring it under control.

ZAWA has recorded 129 reports of Human and Animal Conflict since January this year.

ENDS/AMM/PK/ZANIS

The Zambia National Marketeers Credit Association (ZANAMACA) has embarked on a program to empowered marketeers with loan facilities.

ZANAMACA President, Frank Kameya, disclosed that Chipata market communities would be the first to access the loan facility in the Eastern Province.

Mr Kameya said this when he addressed marketers from Kapata and Saturday markets in Chipata yesterday, adding that the main objective of the association was to better the living standards of the most disadvantaged persons who are the marketeers and traders.

Mr Kameya said that the funds would be paid through the Zambia Nationasl Commercial Bank (ZANACO) XAPTI Instant Banking, a newly introduced ZANACO bank product.

He noted that the loans, which ranged from K200,000 to K500,000, would only be given to indigenous Zambians who have stands and shops inside the legally designated markets.

And ZANAMACA Secretary General, Conard Hanyanga, said that the intention of his association was to reach marketeers in Petauke, Chadiza, Katete and Lundazi districts so that all interested members can benefit from the program.

He disclosed that the membership fee was K20,000 per person of which the renewal would be K10,000 annually while opening a XAPIT account with ZANACO would cost the interested marketeers K30,000.

Mr Hanyanga added that the programme will also reduce the HIV/AIDS infections because the marketeers will not indulge into illicit sexual activities because they would be empowered with the much needed capital to empower them economically.

Meanwhile, ZANAMACA National Treasurer, Agness Ndhlovu, appealed to all women marketeers to join the association and benefit from the XAPIT loan facility.

Ms Ndhlovu explained that the funds were sourced from the government through the Citizenship Economic Empowerement Fund (CEEF) and that the payment period was from three to six months which only attracted a 15 per cent interest.

And in an interview with ZANIS, some marketeers expressed happiness over the XAPIT loan facility, saying that the initiative would help them in many ways because other lending institutions were exploiting them on the loan interest.

Ms Iness Nyanga and Ms Veronica Mbewe both of Kapata Market said that the named companies were charging more than 50 per cent interest while others were grabbing traders’ property if they failed to pay back the loans.

ZANIS/ENDS/DB/CMM/EB.