M’MEMBE PUNCHES HOLES IN ‘FREE EDUCATION’
….says there is much propaganda on free education purely for political & electoral purposes
Lusaka… Thursday August 22, 2024
Socialist Party President Dr. Fred M’membe says there is a lot of propaganda on free education purely for political and electoral purposes.
Dr. M’membe says in order to have quality free education, government ought to invest heavily in the education sector.
He wonders how much the current UPND administration is investing in the education sector in order to have quality education.
Dr. M’membe is of the firm belief that in order to achieve quality education through free education, the government should heavily invest in education infrastructure.
The Socialist Party leader further said goverment alone cannot run the education sector as it needs the inputs of other stakeholders such as the church, the international community, the business community, corporate entities and others.
“Look at what we are calling free education here. There has been so much propaganda and you can see it. The way the propaganda is being carried is purely for political purposes and electoral purposes. When you examine that so-called free education, you realize it is not free education at all. Especially for us who have come from free education. We still have many of our young people in secondary schools pay. In boarding schools you pay K1000 per term, that money for a boarding school is too little. And that is for 90 days. If you take K1000 and divide it for 90 days, you realize that it comes to K11.11 per day per child. What can you eat from K11.1 or so,” he questioned.
“And if you divide it by 3 meals, it comes to K3.7 per meal for breakfast, lunch and supper. The government puts in K200 per term per child in these schools. And that K200 caters for maintenance of the schools and a lot of other things. And also it is structured like IMF for conditionalities. That K200 cannot be used to feed the pupils or the learners. So if the headmaster runs out of food, you cannot get part of that money to take to food.”
Dr. M’membe has also downplayed reports that his party will abolish private schools once it forms goverment saying the private schools play a pivotal role in providing education to the learners.
He said currently, private schools are doing so much in helping learners access the much needed education for them to make it in the world.
“If you want a free education, it costs money. You have to put a huge percentage of your budget in that. If you want a free education, you have to invest in developing the quality and the quantities of teachers. It costs money. You have also to invest heavily in infrastructure. Schools need infrastructure. How much is this government spending on developing school infrastructure? Socialization of education means the parents, the communities have to participate in running that education. No one should be left out. The government alone does not have the capacity and the resources to run education on their own. They don’t have the capacity. You need the communities to participate. The business world must participate. Everyone must participate because everyone benefits from education. Whether it’s the church, it benefits from education. It must participate in running education. Whether it’s the traditional authorities, it benefits from education. It must participate in running education,” he added.
“Whether it’s the military, the intelligence, the police and so on, all must participate in running education because everyone benefits in education. Even those who despise education, who don’t like education, they still send their children to schools. They still send their children to schools and they want to send their children to the best schools. Especially when they have a bit more deeper pockets.”
Meanwhile, Dr. M’membe has observed the need to embrace research in entrepreneurship.
He said the country is doing so much in agricultural entrepreneurship but that research should be at the center of all these activities such as rice farming, fish farming and other agricultural ventures.
ZO it’s either your reporters are miserable or this man was speaking like a scatterbrain. What is the division of expenses for? To show how government is subsidizing the citizens or how the students are managing on k3? Nonsense
I am equally baffled by this.
Nicolas Maduro has run out of oxygen
What holes can this criminal punch. Surely! Even to the writer, do you think in all fairness that this crook can punch holes in this our free education? and where. Please write with the mind of truth.
But this Freddie Mmembe is a confused character. Surely a man being referred to as president of a political party can’t see and appreciate what is happening in the education sector after the introduction of free education.
Government is greatly investing in education through infrastructure building. Construction of schools at both primary and secondly level. We are seeing many classroom blocks being built using CDF, desks being made and supplied to a number of schools country wide, teachers being employed and in UPNDs three years in office more than 47,000+ teachers have so far been employed on public schools ( public service).
Churches, private individuals and organisations are also running education facilities but payable then what is you Freddie Mmembe talking about. Catholics as a Church have many schools in the Country, talk of United Church of Zambia, Seventh Day Advertist, plus many more Churches are runnings schools, so what is this insane man talking about if he lives in this Country. Lost sheep, a mental otherwise disturbed character. Completely soil. No Bwino bwino in kablangata What do you, want Fred to achieve with your hatred and lies? sure Mr post news paper and tax invader you can’t visibly see what is happening . Donors are also supporting is with funding to construct schools. All this you can’t see and hear. Soil
It is indeed surprising that Mr. Mmembe has deliberately decided not to appreciate and acknowledge the huge investment this administration continues to put in the education sector.
FM, the fact is that you have contributed to depleting government coffers, money which would have been used to invest in Free education, Agriculture and health.
You evaded tax, borrowed without paying back, in the name of the post And Zambian Airways! You educated your children abroad with that money and now you are literally mocking those that have not stollen from govery and can only send their children to cree education government schools. Alabame, Lesa uyu alakanda!
Fred M’membe is a desperate person who is out there to demean whatever the government is doing. The free education policy the new dawn government is implementing is at least relieving financial challenges of poor parents had been facing to support their children. It may true that the free education has certain pitfalls but the fact is that it is alleviating education hardships people where facing to support their children.
It is important to note that it is a fool like Fred M’membe who doesn’t know that there many stakeholders involved in the education sector. The international community is also highly involved in supporting the education sector. It has been doing a commendable work just as other local stakeholders have been collaborating on free education. The problem with Fred M’membe is that he thinks he knows too much yet he is ignorant about most of the development issues. Each time he criticises the new dawn government the more he exposes his ignorance.
One wonders if these cadres criticizing Mmembe here understand what he is talking about. GRZ schools are overcrowded with a class having pupils between 70 and 100 pupils. One wonders how one teacher can supervise so many pupils. I mean giving them classwork, checking and correcting what they write. Under KK’s free education, the class size on average was 35 pupils. Funding to schools then was far much better than it is today. No wonder grant-aided schools have refused to go along with the GRZ nonsense of doing away with the PTA fund that they use to pay workers, buy requisites for a clean and green school environment and provide incentives to teachers. The PTA fund should be done away with for rural and peri-urban schools where parents cannot afford to pay. In grant-aided schools like where my daughter goes to here in Lusaka, parents together with the schools have refused to do away with the PTA fund and convinced Ministry of Education to allow them maintain it by changing the name from PTA to Sustenance Fund. We appreciate the importance of having motivated teachers and a clean and green environment that research has proved has a bearing on learner positive outcomes.
Sometimes you pfidiots should learn to shut beeks. Which KK times did you attend school and classes were less than 65 pupils? Atase what pf rubbish do you think you’ll propagate and people will listen. Continue with your Matako talking and remember Vaseline is now becoming more expensive!!