Government says it will soon build more tertiary institutions in all the provinces in order to improve education standards in the country.
Education Deputy Minister David Mabumba said this when he addressed Senior Education Officers from Northern and Muchinga Provinces at Mwenzo Girls secondary school in Nakonde.
Mr. Mabumba said government has embarked on a programme to build more higher learning institutions in all the provinces in order to improve education standards in the country.
He said that so far construction of two tertiary institutions in Muchinga Province has commenced and nearing completion.
Mr. Mabumba said that a University is being constructed in Chinsali district and a skills training institute at Isoka.
He said this is in line with the PF government policy of building more learning institutions in order to allow more people to have access to education in the country.
The Deputy Minister also noted that education standards in the country had started going down because of the limited number of schools.
The Minister further explained that it was for that reason that the PF government embarked on the construction of more secondary schools and universities in the country.
“As PF Government we are committed to build more secondary schools, Colleges in the country,” said Mr. Mabumba.
ZANIS
Building more while the current institutions are still in disrepair, its libraries bookless and its alumni jobless is questionable.
Ni chimbwi no plan my friend. Find jobs for the young people from UNZA, CBU, Mulungushi, Open university, UNILUS, etc before u think of building more.
Build away. Build a culture of maintenance while you’re at it.
Exactly! As well as culture of frequent Quality Assessment checks
Spot on…they are merely building for stats with no long term facilities management plan!
Exactly, it takes more than just building structures to improve the standard of education. The curriculum needs revamping to reflect 21st century requirements. Investment in high calibre teachers right through the education spectrum with competitive salaries and teaching aides. Quality teachers at primary school as these early centres are responsible. Need I go on?
We are really shocked and appalled at how the PF government is approaching and planning to revive the education system in thecountry. It surely do not look like they have a solid plan before they were ushed in the office. A wise man will tell you that you first fix what you have before you can build more. This does not require common sense but it seems like common sense is actually not common in the PF leadership. We therefore, as ZID encourage the PF government to hire people who are specialise in education revamping programs. We have several Zambians abroad who can help in reviving and reorganizing the Zambia education system.
this is the problem with most of you guys the so called educated, you want to hire people to come and tell u what you already know. how much money will be spent pay the same experts? millions? the money that can be used to improve the mantainance of the same old insititutions. we know we need to build more schools, we know we need to mantain good quality of schools, we know we need to train more qualified teachers, provide good labs and libraries, why should we hire experts for that? i dont see anything wrong with what the PF regime is doing with regard to building more schools. Zambia needs more infrastructure in education, health etc. are u guys saying that we should not build schools till such a time wen w’ve completely been able to eradicate any problems in our current…
I doubt the sincerity of most coments above, it has become very clear over the years that getting into university in Zambia is harder than it is in most countries due to limited space available. i have a lot of friends who got 7-12 points who could not be admited into Unza due to lack of space, yes we need to mantain the already existing institutions but i dont think building more schools is a misplaced priority, we urgently need more schools, students go to China to study in those tough languages coz back home its hard to get into university. lets build more schools as well as mantain those that we already have, Zambia’s population is growing rapidly and therefore the need to expand our insititutions, as for me personally i thank those who see the need for more schools.
@ Musoli Munthanshi UNZA has a lot of land lying idle which politicians and some greedy senior university officials have taken advantage of. I am sure you are aware of the saga involving UNZA land sold to his excellency,the late LPM. My point is government can expand the existing infrastructure by building more classrooms, dorms, labs, lecture theaters etc and thereby accommodation more students. Quality is always better than quantity. There is no point in having 50 universities of mediocre quality. Who is going to employ students from such institutions? Rather let us improve on what we have. China is doing the same thing. I am sure you have heard about project 985. If not you can google it.
All those opposed to the building of more Universities, Schools and Colleges, luck common sense. How on earth can a Nation develop without the minds of those educated? No wonder you have no papers in those Countries you are hiding in. The moment you shall ever go out, that shall be the end of you in those Countries unless mukafwaye abakupa fipato fyenu. Leave PF to work for those poor Zambians you left back in your Compounds.
and you “luck” the ability to spell. Who told you that just because our views are diametrically opposed to your own means we lack common sense. It is just a differing view. There is no need to be pejorative. Especially if you can’t spell for sh**
How about making CBU and UNZA into top African universities first? That is a practical and realistic goal. Expand the infrastructure at these institutions by building more quality dormitories for students so that accommodation problem is a thing of the past. Improve the quality of internet and make it accessible to as many students and staff as possible. Invest money in research by providing research grants, equipments and setting up state of the art research laboratories. Improve the library services. Motivate the teaching and research staff. Once this goal is achieved then we can think of setting up more specialized tertiary institutes according to the needs of the economy but as for now it is merely wishful thinking by the PF government.
Exactly. Let us also improve upon what we have.
The Zambian government can set an example by awarding the universities development and consultancy projects e.g water and sanitation projects, environmental impact assessments, design projects and so on unlike the present situation where most of these projects are done by international companies.
Before building new tertiary institutions, PF must first of all
1. Finish the “unfinished” buildings across the country,
2. Renovate the dilapidated buildings across the country,
3.Demolish unsafe shoddy buildings and put up structures that will stand the test of time, my primary school build by the colonials is still standing today!
4. Improve the primary school carricula across the board anThen construct more tertiary institutions.
We are not against the idea of more tertiary institutions, what we are advocating for is quality education and not quantity. In yesterdays’s online publications, tutors from one medical school owned by Dr Chituwo scampered in all directions when inspectors visited the institution ……. and on a sad end, one unfortunate teacher had her head…