Introduction
Zambia
education policy has gone through several shifts that have seen it swing
through community, non-governmental organisations, private sector,
international donor support and predominantly government provision. A
combination of different modes has, however, been predominant. The recent
pronouncement of the free education policy brought about speculation among the
various stakeholders.
Historical
Context
Before
1964, the policy climate allowed for the existence of a parallel system of
education justified on racial and other lines.
In 1965, the new Zambian government proclaimed “free education
policy” to reverse the many years of injustice imposed on the Africans
through education fees and other levies they could hardly afford. The
Education Act (1966), legalised the changes from “fee-paying”
or “non fee-paying to “scheduled” or “non-scheduled”, in order to
take care of equity issues.
To
support the free education policy, the government abolished racial schools in
1966 with the aim of desegregating the education system further. From the time
of its inception in 1964, the education policy worked well, and it advanced
accelerated educational development. Through
the policy, the government ensured that all the schools were well stocked with
education supplies. These included exercise books, textbooks, pens, pencils,
rulers, mathematical instruments, science kits, art, music, physical education
and all other needed materials and equipment.
Apart
from the above-mentioned resources, the government also ensured that teachers
were deployed to all schools. To
meet the extra requirements posed by school expansion, a one-year
college-based intensive teacher training programme was introduced in 1966.
This facilitated the graduation and deployment of teachers in both new and old
schools. However, with the declining economic situation in the 1980s,
education policies were affected and policy reversals were implemented.
Emergence
of Cost-Sharing Policy
By
1986, a change in policy was evident as boarding and examination fees were
re-introduced through the Interim National Development Plan (1988).
This was justified on the premise that parents needed to be involved in the
education of their children through cost-sharing. During the same time period, Structural Adjustment Programme
(SAP), influenced government policy to a great extent. This was the policy
that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank believed would be the
panacea to African development problems.
As
cost-sharing and other SAP policies became entrenched, more children dropped
out of school as their parents could not afford the fees as well as the school
requisites. The numbers of out of school children in Zambia increased to over
700,000 towards the end of the 1990s, but without sustainable signs of
government interventions. Eventually,
it became a crisis situation and communities took it upon themselves to find
interventions that would assist their children.
Hence, there emerged the community schools, which were characterised by
low fees, relevant skills, participation of communities, increased access to
education, provision of relevant knowledge as well as a focus on orphans and
vulnerable children (OVCs).
Move
toward Free Education
The
increase in the number of out of school children does not auger well with the
spirit and requirements of education for all, whose advocacy started at the
Jomtien World Education Conference in Thailand. Moreover, the Dakar Framework for Action, item 7
(ii) states that countries should be committed to “ensure that by 2015, all
children, with special emphasis on girls, children in difficult circumstances
and from ethnic minorities have access to basic and complete free and
compulsory primary education of good quality”.
The
spirit and commitments from the international forums certainly do have some
degree of influence on what is happening within the Zambian policy arena,
where the changes seem to follow the global dictates for better or for worse.
On
15th March 2002, the Ministry of
Education announced the “free education policy”, which would apply from
grades 1-7 of the system. In
terms of justification, one section of the policy circular stated that: “The
announcement should be seen in the context of unprecedented decline in
enrolment rates and increasing dropout rates even after those years of BESSIP,
whose objectives are to increase enrolment and improve learning achievement”
(MOE Circular No. 3, 2002).
Several
factors were responsible for the change in thinking by the government, among
which were:
i.
The increasing levels of poverty;
ii.
The increasing numbers of orphans due to HIV/AIDS pandemic; and
iii.
The increasing exclusion of OVCs from the formal education system.
With
the free education policy pronouncement, the Ministry of Education has
committed itself to supporting all the schools in the country through grants
of about $500 – $600 per term, through funding of the Basic Education
Sub-Sector Investment Programme (BESSIP).
The funds are meant to support school requisites such as books, chalk,
paper, pencils and other learning and teaching inputs. Although some big urban
schools have found this grant to be insufficient, rural schools have found it
very useful as they were previously disadvantaged. Urban schools, on the other
hand, used to levy and collect a lot of money prior to this policy.
Impact
of Free Education Policy
The
free education policy was designed to bring back to school all the children
who dropped out and all those who previously had no access to education,
especially the OVCs and other children in difficult circumstances.
Not much can be said about the policy as it is in its infancy.
However, preliminary snap surveys in some schools in Southern and
Northern Provinces of Zambia reveal that there has been a slight impact on
access as enrolments have increased. The
numbers are, however, very insignificant, raising the question: “where are
all the ‘never beens’ and ‘dropouts’ as well as ‘OVCs?’” These
certainly have not yet been captured and it is clear that more needs to be
done beyond the pronouncement of policy.
Missing
Link
The
enactment of a policy is not enough to ensure its success.
A lot needs to be done such as sensitisation of all the stakeholders
about the policy. All those
involved need to know the implications of the policy and what its intents are
as well as their expected roles. Hence the cooperating partners, non-governmental
organisations, communities and others, need to be on board to support the
policy. Currently, some community
reactions to the policy have been negative.
They have conceptualised the policy as a way of reducing their
participation in education and suspension of their financial and material
support. A lot of parents who
previously supported their children are currently refusing even to buy pens,
pencils or exercise books for their children arguing that the government,
specifically the President, has said that there will be free education, and
hence all these materials should be provided.
Free
education does not imply that parents will play no role in education
provision, but because communities were not sensitised, the effects are not
very positive. Some parents do
not realise that the grants given to schools cannot procure all the requisites
needed, and it is unrealistic to expect schools to be able to provide exercise
books, pens, pencils and rulers to all pupils in addition to processing
textbooks, readers and other teaching materials. Parents
need to know that the current government policy also emphasised community
participation and cost-sharing.
It
is clear that the grants adequately take care of school uniforms, school
shoes, transport money, feeding while at school and other personal issues
which actually make a big difference in the lives of pupils.
In spite of the policy on abolishing school uniforms, on the ground,
school managements, pupils and some parents still see it as a requirement and
hence a lot of children still miss school because of such things.
Moreover,
a lot of the OVCs are still out of school or attending community schools. The government therefore needs to consider how to proceed in
terms of this policy given the issues raised and the fact that over 70 per
cent of Zambians live under poverty. What interventions can be put in place to
enable all families to send their children to school to the extent families
benefit from the policy? What are the indications of free education?
How shall the success of the free education policy be measured?
Is it in the numbers enrolled even if the students have no desks and
books? Will the success be measured in terms of quality of education provided
or in the number of serious teachers?
In
spite of the pronouncement, not many expansions have been made in classroom
infrastructure and in the number of teachers, and only a very minimal increase
in school requisites. So what is
the best way forward in terms of implementing and making the free education
policy a success? There are more questions that need answers.
References
Government
of Republic of Zambia (GRZ). 1988.
Interim national development plan. Lusaka: Government.
Printers.
_____.
1990. Social Action Programme for 1990-93. Lusaka.
_____.
1991. New economic recovery programme.
Economic & Financial Policy Framework.
1991 – 1993. Lusaka:
Ministry of Finance & NCDP.
Ministry
of Education (MOE). 1996. Educating our future:
National policy on education.
Lusaka MOE.
UNIP.
1974. UNIP national policies for the next decade, 1985 – 95.
Lusaka.
World
Education Forum. 2000. The Dakar Framework for Action.
Education for All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments.
Revised Draft.