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.
