The Secondary School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) has expressed disappointment at the poor results recorded during the 2009 grade 12 examinations.
And the union has asked government to conduct investigations to determine why some private schools in Lusaka have performed so badly when they are charging exorbitant fees to pupils.
SESTUZ Deputy General Secretary, Emmanuel Zulu said the poor results and the downward trend in number of candidates who sat for the examinations is a source of worry to the country as it may produce half baked citizens who will fail to contribute effectively to the socio-economic development of the country.
Mr. Zulu was reacting to the announcement that over 33,000 out of the 55,000 pupils who sat for Grade 12 examinations last year obtained school certificate.
He added that the union has established that the poor results and the decrease in number of candidates was due to pupils’ withdrawal from schools by pregnancies and parents’ inability to pay school fees. He said this should be quickly addressed to avoid a situation where those who fail to proceed to pursue their tertiary education end up being on the streets as prostitutes, beggars or thieves.
Mr. Zulu has also called on government to investigate why some privately owned schools in Lusaka have recorded a low passing rate despite them promising to deliver the best education to pupils. He said this is unexpected especially that they charge a lot of money.
He said most private schools have employed unqualified staff and do not have proper facilities to conduct experiments adding that government should start supervising them to ensure they meet all the standards.
Mr. Zulu has meanwhile commended government for releasing K21.5 billion towards the payment of the final fixed band housing allowance arrears.He said the payment is a step in the right direction especially that it has been outstanding for over seven years.
Mr. Zulu has however asked government to come up with more progressive staff motivation strategies and conditions of service to motivate the teachers.
ZANIS
/:)education standards are compromised.
Education sector is run by incompetents:(
Before we complain about the private schools, it will be good to look at our own house.GOVERMENT SCHOOLS.The standared of education has gon so down that you can not imagine our childrens falling to read.The Teachers are always on strike and all they demand for are the mones for cobra,PTA,or a ream of paper instead of concentrating of teaching.Please Ba minister look into your own house.
if the kids this year are fikopoz. they have themselves to blame. chimbwis. deuces:)>-
Lets hope my young sister is one of the 33,000.Ba govt please improve the education standards pa Zed.
Ba matworld ati lets hope my sister is among them.Looks to me that you doubt her abilities, anyway bro just pick up the phone and find out if your lovely young sister has made it(maybe she was in a private school no wonder your doubt ).It is not that expensive to call Z from sasasa.Enjoy life:)>-
And after thet carry out investigations, what next??? is this not the 10th investigation they calling for since 1999?
The problems that private schools face are well known (1) Lack of inspections from the Minstry of Education (2) The employ people who are not teachers by training to teach (3) Trained teachers merely stay there while waiting to be absorbed by GRZ hence there is a huge turnover of Teachers at these schs, sometimes one class can have 4 Teachers in one year (4) Poor conditions of service to the Teachers except those Schs that have names and an image to protect (5) Most pupils enrolled in these schools are those who have failed to make it into say GRZ Schools for Secondary education- simply put the students capacity is not that good even if they had the best Teachers available. (6)Overall the most biggest problem is lack of quality control by the Ministry of Education on these private schs
union to look at the conditions of service for private school workers and standardize private school fees