ZAMBIA Civic Education Association (ZCEA) Executive Director Judith Mulenga has attributed the high number of children who are in school to weak compulsory laws on education.
Ms. Mulenga has told QFM News that the country needs to come up with punitive laws which will deal with parents or guardians who fail to enroll children who have attained the school enrollment age.
She adds that the value of education in the country has also been lost because of certain situations such as the lack of jobs after one has completed schools among other reasons.
Ms. Mulenga says the nation needs to upgrade the value of education if many parents are to enroll their children in school.
She notes that even the free education system in primary school has not helped much, stating that free education alone is not enough to increase enrollment.
Ms. Mulenga says people especially in rural areas need to be educated on the importance of education.
Ms. Mulenga further states that children also need to be inspired by those who have been in school by seeing the benefits of being educated.
The legal approach is generally doomed to failure in the absence of shared values about education. What is needed is a robust response from the community, whether government likes it or not. The community school concept is sustainable. It is generally cost effective because of greater openness, transparency and accountability. As for the legal intervention, it needs to take the direction of social work or parental conselling. What is compulsory is the call out to appear before the community educational counselling committees to give the reasons why children were staying away from schooling. The conclusion is a mandatory set of options for each parent or guardian concerned.
a fundamental cultural shift is needed. education is as important as defence, yet public investment in it leaves much to be desired.