PARLIAMENTARY SUBMISSION ON FREE EDUCATION POLICY IN ZAMBIA

SUBMISSION OF MEMORANDUM ON THE FREE EDUCATION POLICY IN ZAMBIA; OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES                                                                       By                                                        ACTIONAID ZAMBIA   29TH NOVEMBER 2022   Contact: Musonda Kabinga Acting Country Director P.O Box 51407 Lusaka Cell: +260 966 453 677

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION.. 3

2.0 BACKGROUND.. 3

3.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.. 3

4.0 ZAMBIAS EDUCATION SECTOR.. 4

5.0 ADEQUACY OF THE LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK SUPPORTING THE FREE EDUCATION POLICY IN ZAMBIA.. 4

6.0 EDUCATION SECTOR BUDGET ALLOCATIONS.. 5

7.0 EFFECTS OF THE ‘FREE EDUCATION POLICY’ ON MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS   6

8.1 Learner-Teacher Ratio (LTR) 8

8.2 Learner-Desk Ratio.. 8

8.3 Limited Classroom Space, Over Enrollment- 8

8.4 Reduced Learning time because Teachers are Overwhelmed- 8

8.5 Lack of Proper Infrastructure to Motivate Teachers- 8

8.6 School Supplies did not Meet with the Enrollment- 9

8.7 Poor Enrollment into Secondary School/Low Progression Rates. 9

8.8 Very Limited Data Available on ECE Access and Participation.. 9

8.9 Access to Primary and Secondary School 9

9.0 RECOMMENDATIONS IN BOTH SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM.. 10

10.0 CONCLUSION.. 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The 2023 National Budget Speech was delivered by Minister of Finance and National Planning Hon. Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane on the 30th of September 2022 for the forthcoming fiscal year (FY 2023). The National Budget which is themed “Stimulating Economic Growth for Improved Livelihoods” amounts to K167.32 billion. The budget will be executed under the bankable blueprint for national development, the Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP) covering the period 2022 to 2026 and the Extended Credit Facility, IMF Programme of US$1.3 billion that runs for 38 months.
 

This ambitious undertaking will have several significant implications on the lives of people of Zambia especially marginalised groupings who are the women, youth, and people with disabilities.

2.0 BACKGROUND

ActionAid Zambia (AAZ) is a national organization working to end poverty and injustice in Zambia. AAZ is a member of the ActionAid International Federation which works in 45 countries across the globe. In Zambia we work on five (5) priorities areas namely: Women and Girls Socio-Economic Empowerment, Civic Participation and State Accountability, Promoting Resilient Livelihoods and Climate Justice, Transformative Women-Led Emergency Preparedness, Response and Prevention and Youth led Alternatives.

 

Our vision is a ‘A just, equitable and sustainable Zambia in which every person enjoys the right to a life of dignity’ and the mission is ‘To achieve social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication by working with people living in poverty and exclusion, their communities, people’s organisations, activists, social movements and supporters’. In fulfilling its mandate, ActionAid Zambia works with various stakeholders such as women and youth groups, civil society organisations, government agencies to mention but a few. ActionAid works in Nalolo, Sesheke, Mpulungu, Mbala, Mpika, Chipata, Choma, Solwezi and Nakonde. Additionally, ActionAid implements through partners in different districts namely: Isoka, Mungwi, Kasama, Chiengi and Serenje.

 

3.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This document provides a detailed analysis on the impact of the ‘Free Education Policy’ on the Zambia’s early education and secondary education.

The analysis has taken into consideration the current policy framework guiding the education sector, recent budget allocations, NGO and CSOs roles in the education sector. The analysis has further taken into consideration recent enrolments, IMF support and conditions, financing and changes that have happened over the year. The document highlights the current education sector programs that support the ‘Free Education Policy’ and the current ESSP framework.

The submission further highlights key challenges on the specific areas as it relates to the education sector and provided recommendations related to early childhood, primary school education and secondary school education and what can be done to support the planned interventions.

4.0 ZAMBIAS EDUCATION SECTOR

Zambia’s main legislation on education is the Education Act 2011, which identifies each person’s rights to early childhood education, basic education and high school education. Since 2006, government education policies have focused on access, but there is a recent shift towards improving quality of education in addition to addressing accessibility issues.

 

Education is considered a key catalyst for economic growth, social and political development and reducing the inequality gap. Zambia has faced several challenges in the education sector since gaining Independence. To overcome these disparities government introduced the ‘free education policy.

 

Zambia’s education sector over the years has experienced a sluggish growth with a nearly widespread primary school enrolment rate of 87.9 percent and a 42.9 percent enrolment rate for secondary school, however, the primary school enrolment does not cover for the regional disparities faced and the low enrolment of early childhood education.  

At present through the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP), government aims to initiate education’s key role in national development and attaining long term development goals. The Ministry of Education through the ESSP combine’s policies such as Educating our Future, Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and Vision 2030 that targets improved learning outcomes, oversight and accountability at all levels while taking note of achievements from the third National Implementation Framework (NIF). The ESSP which ended in 2021 has been subject to review and with the new ESSP still being drafted and is yet to be validated by stakeholders.

5.0 ADEQUACY OF THE LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK SUPPORTING THE FREE EDUCATION POLICY IN ZAMBIA

The Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) 2016: The Constitution is the highest legislative norm in Zambia which guides general principles to which all other national laws and policies must align to. The Constitution of 1991, amended in 2016, does not enshrine the right to education.

 

Education Act (2011): Section14 (1), provides that, a person has the right to— (a) early childhood care, development and education; (b) basic education, including adult literacy education; and (c) high school education. Further, under Section (2) The Government shall make general and vocational education progressively available and accessible to all persons. Section 15 of the Act observes that a child has the right to free basic education while Section 19 provides that an educational institution shall not discriminate against a learner in any manner and Section 31 provides that the Minister shall promote equity in access to education, participation in and successful completion of education at all levels, irrespective of gender, social class or disability. Section 34 (1) provides that the Minister may, by statutory instrument, make regulations to provide for— … (b) the basic school-going age and age for compulsory attendance at educational institutions.

ActionAid Zambia observes that the Education Act provides for the right to education for individuals, non-discrimination of leaners, and provision of general and vocational education by government among others. Furthermore, the Act provides for Equity in access to education regarding participation in and completion of education at all levels.  However, the Act is not adequate in providing for free education.  Forinstance, although the Act mentions about the need for Equity this relates to participation in education and completion at all levels and not about free education. It should be mentioned that the current Education Act is not adequate to provide for free education from Primary to Secondary School given that the Act does not categorically provide for free education.

The Gender Equity and Equality Act of 2015 Section 30 states that, (1) a woman shall, on an equal basis with a man, have the same right to education. While Act provides promotes equal access to education for women and men, the Act does not emphasize the provision for free quality education by the government.

  

The 8th National Development Plan: The recently launched 8NDP sets out Zambia’s strategic direction and development priorities for the period 2022 to 2026. The Plan is the fourth in the series of five-year national development plans (NDPs) towards actualisation of the National Vision 2030 in which Zambia aspires to become a prosperous middle-income nation. Human and social development is one of the strategic developments areas which addresses the need to develop human capacities, through investments and interventions in education and skills development, health and nutrition, water, and sanitation. In addition, it aims at reducing poverty, inequalities, and vulnerability.  Strategy one of this development area looks at enhancing access to quality, equitable and inclusive education and prioritizes the provision of free education from early childhood to secondary level which is aligning well with the policy in question. [1]

6.0 EDUCATION SECTOR BUDGET ALLOCATIONS

In the 2023 National Budget Speech proposed an increased the allocation to the education sector in both monetary terms and as percentage of the budget. From K18.1 billion in 2022, Government raised the budget by 3.5 percent to K23.2 billion in 2023. As a percentage share of the budget, this represented an increase from 10.4 percent in 2022 to 13.9 percent in 2023.

7.0 EFFECTS OF THE ‘FREE EDUCATION POLICY’ ON MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS

Since the 2022 reforms to the policy, the effects have been overall mixed with both positive and negative results. The results being, an increase in school enrollments, leading to a shortage of classroom space, health issues due to the limited access to appropriate sanitation facilities, limited classroom infrastructure to accommodate the large number of students.  A study done by Mwanza and Silukuni (2020) focused on how implementation of the free education policy affected children in Kafue district and highlighted that “the higher enrolments created a conflict between access and delivery of quality education.” There were challenges of government providing more teachers, more classrooms, more textbooks, more desks, and other educational materials to meet the increased enrolment.”

Higher enrollment rates also lead to Teacher burnout issues which affects delivery of quality learning. The study further expressed how teacher to learner ratios exceeded the required standard by government, overwhelmed teachers, and further resulted in high pupil to book ratios, inadequate desk supply, and poor quality of learning. Teachers interviewed expressed their difficulty in giving learners specific need attention. Apart from this, during hotter seasons the poor ventilation resulted in learners suffering from heat strokes due to overcrowding.

Accountability in teacher management is also essential to ensure that hired teachers are qualified with efficient teaching styles and are working within their areas of recruitment. Even with a positive move of recruiting 30, 496 teachers in 2022, it is essential that proper management system of teaching staff is put in place to maximize the efficiency of learning.

There is also a need to increase the number of secondary schools being constructed to avoid overcrowding and discouragement. Currently transition rates from primary to junior secondary stand at 61 percent and secondary completion rate is 35 percent.[2] This means although education is free, students do not complete school – a result of many reasons among them the lack of schools, limited supplies and materials, and limited spaces for learning.

The education sector from early primary education to secondary school education receive grants from the government and relevant institutions such as ‘Global Partnership for Education’ that approved a US$498,391 grant for Zambia to develop the education sector plan for 2017-2021 and to support institutions offering the services.  

Notably, across the different levels of education some of the effects of free education policy on management of schools according to a policy review done by UNESCO on Zambia’s Education: Paving the Way for SDG 4 – Education 2030 and the right to education include:  

Early childhood education

1. Limited due to:

1. Distance: learners in remote areas often face long distances to attend ECE schools.
2. Unsuitable and insufficient infrastructure: Classroom structures are inappropriate for students to learn. Some examples would be the lack of appropriate furniture such as desks and sanitary blocks. The bias towards private school learners to rural learners is still seen in the availability of resources and conducive learning environments.

 

Primary school education

1. There is a need for consistent monitoring of the education system at community level by central offices to ensure that learners are receiving then quality and required education standards.
2. There are challenges in providing equal access to schools for children in rural areas. For example, Primary schools have lost several classes to Secondary Schools because of the upgrading, while some classrooms are also being converted into ECE centers.

Secondary school education

1. Low transition and completion rates due to Insufficient access to secondary school due to limited space availability, incomplete construction of schools.
2. School locations due to limited secondary schools disadvantage pupils that must travel long distances to access it.
3. Decaying, unfinished, and poor infrastructure led to demotivation in teaching and learning from both the teaching staff and students.

 8.0 CHALLENGES FACED DURING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FREE POLICY

8.1 Learner-Teacher Ratio (LTR)

There has been a marginal reduction in the ratio from one teacher to 120 pupils in the past decade to one teacher per 80 learners. Despite the improvement, there is still room for improvement to achieve the targeted ratio of one teacher to 5 learners as recommended by the Ministry of Education. The current LTR stands at 42 percent and the Zambian Ministry of Education has a rule that no school should have a Learner-teacher-ratio greater than forty students to one teacher. To satisfy this rule government will need to recruit nearly 12,500 teachers. most schools within the country have a higher PTR than required while some schools have more teachers than required. AAZ suggests proper systems are put in place to ensure deployments are responsive to staffing needs in various areas.

8.2 Learner-Desk Ratio

There has been an overwhelming number of learners enrolling into schools with lack of infrastructure to support this enrollment. Learners however lack resources such as desks and chairs to match the level of enrollment which affects their overall learning standards. We recommend government to be urgent in providing required resources to schools to accommodate for the overwhelming enrollment.[3]

8.3 Limited Classroom Space, Over Enrollment-

Although there has been an increase in the number of students enrolling there is no adequate infrastructure to support the learners. Classrooms are overcrowded and this affects the quality of learning provided and other learners might be unfairly disadvantaged.

8.4 Reduced Learning time because Teachers are Overwhelmed-

In order to suffice for the increased enrollment teachers in rural schools with higher pupil teacher ratios taken up roles they are not qualified teach to suffice for gaps within the system. Teacher-learners interaction has also reduced due to the large number of learners which affects the teacher’s ability to provide learners with specific needs and support to help improve their learning.

8.5 Lack of Proper Infrastructure to Motivate Teachers-

Teachers being deployed to rural areas have shown reluctance to work in hardship areas due to insufficient housing provision, access to medical requirements of teachers and their families, access to proper teaching resources such as material. even though there has been a systematic deployment system challenges such as lack of proper teacher qualifications based on criteria and relocation to ‘urban’ areas to avoid teaching in rural schools. With “unofficially” re-deployments from rural areas to urban schools taking place there is an increase in payroll mismatches and improper teacher availability.

8.6 School Supplies do Not Match with the Enrollment-

Learners and teachers both don’t have access to proper school supplies to distribute and use due to the increase in the number of students enrolling. AAZ urges government to ensure learners and teachers have adequate supply of textbooks, books and teaching equipment in order to provide students with quality education, lack of this will lead to a reduced standard of education and poor progression rates.

8.7 Poor Enrollment into Secondary School/Low Progression Rates

Learners present a lower transition rate into secondary school with girl learners enduring the largest disadvantage due to child marriages, teenage pregnancies, misogynistic community practices that undervalue girl child education, and proper availability of menstrual health resources.

8.8 Very Limited Data Available on ECE Access and Participation

DECE’s major role has been to preside over and coordinate matters pertaining to ECE provision, particularly in developing framework documents on improved ECE provision’s access and quality. Over the years expansion of ECE facilities and centers has increased but the level of enrollment remains below 10 percent.

8.9 Access to Primary and Secondary School

Access to primary and secondary school has expanded over the period, but only secondary education has grown at a rate faster than the population growth rate. AAZ urges government to conduct proper research on this to understand in detail why access to primary school hasn’t grown.

Comment

Effectively Zambia has made significant progress in increasing access to education however allocation of resources within the system remains a challenge. staffing imbalances directly to administrative challenges such as the lack of enforcement of the Ministry of Education’s teacher allocation rule, weak teacher deployment and transfer policies, payroll mismatch, weaknesses in the budgeting process for teacher positions, and staffing challenges in rural vs. urban schools.

9.0 RECOMMENDATIONS IN BOTH SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM

In conclusion, as an institution we wish to make the following recommendation with a view to enhance the operation of the sector should these issues be considered by the policy makers.

 

 

Recommendations Short Term

• There is need to collect and track data on pay points and actual locations of teachers
• Determine an achievable maximum learners-teacher ratio rule to ensure teachers are equitably distributed and allocated.
• Community engagement to ensure all parents understand children have the right to education and must be enrolled into school by law.
• Encourage dropouts to re-enrol into school
• Monitor the quality of education and whether teachers deployed are working in their areas
• Expand access to secondary school education to increase the level of transition.
• Ministry of Education should start to distribute materials on the re-entry policy to all schools in all the provinces in Zambia to raise awareness on the re-entry policy.
• Ministry of Education should hold regular training for teachers in guidance and counselling unite to make them effectively guide and counsel affected pupils.
• Ministry of Education should start to distribute materials on the re-entry policy to all schools in all the provinces in Zambia to raise awareness on the re-entry policy.
• Ministry of Education should start organizing regular workshops and a clear implementation plan each academic year to equip teachers with necessary skills on reporting procedures for defilement cases.
• Ministry of Education should put in place strict procedures and measures to deal with teachers involved in the impregnating pupils (girls).

 

Recommendations long term

• Develop appropriate infrastructure to support the overwhelming enrolment of learners
• Ensure education Policies set in place are carried out
• Revise the curriculum so that it considers recent needs such as sex education to reduce the number of child pregnancies that lead to dropouts
• Deploy new teachers exclusively to schools in need of teachers
• Enforce transfer policies that require recruited teachers to not avoid rural areas.
• Revise incentive schemes to attract teachers to remote schools if lack of teacher supply constrains staffing in certain areas
• Ministry of Education should put in place a deliberate mechanisms and systems that will enhance linkages between schools and families of the minors (learners) to legal and social entities such the Zambia police (ZP), VSU, YWCA and national legal Aid clinic for Women and Ministry of Healthy.

 

10.0 CONCLUSION

It should be emphasised that free education is progressive however there is need to address other factors mentioned in this submission that negatively affect the provision of free education in Zambia.  

 

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[1] Summary for 8NDP plan -www.sh.gov.zm/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SUMMARY-8NDP-26.08.22-1.pdf 

[2] Hideko Miyagawa, Chief Education, UNICEF & Nalin Jena, Sr. Education Specialist, World Bank. (n.d.). Education Sector and Education CPs - Zambia

[3] (Mwanza & Silukuni, 2020, pp. 7-8)