The Zambian government has suffered from a number of problems in the provision of education

in both rural and urban areas of the country. Despite these problems affecting the education
system, the Zambian government came up with measures to mitigate the problems. This
assignments aim is identify some of the problems faced by the Zambian government in the early
years of independence and stating the measures the government put in place to mitigate these
problems.
After independence the country lacked a number of items and this hindered certain sectors of
government including the education system. Firstly, there was inadequate capacity with human,
material and financial resources. Kelly (1999) noted that if the teacher pupil ratio at any level of
the education system is too high especially at basic level, the quality of education is heavily
affected. Setting the pace for expansion of educational facilities in Zambia Kenneth Kaunda said:
Expanding our Secondary School Education and paying greater attention to the requirements of
university education, in order to produce qualified personnel and help establish sound
administrative cadres for upper and middle grades in government, commerce and industry,
agriculture extension schemes and public works, for which good education is a must has no
substitute. To mitigate this problem the government devised a program to train an educated and
skilled Zambian manpower by setting up institutions of higher learning. The University of
Zambia was one of them established in 1965 for that purpose and officially opened its doors to
the public on July 12, 1966. Due to so much expenditure on building colleges and the university,
the Government then was unable to supply sufficient educational materials and funds to schools
and once again these had to be provided by the local communities. Even though colleges were
set up for manpower development, the GRZ (1992) adds that few teachers ever benefited from
in-service education from this program since there was no proper funding for this outside the
few colleges designated for such activities.
Secondly, the country had inadequate infrastructure and school places. The government had a
task of building a number of schools in various districts which was a costly venture. At the same
time the road network was poorly developed which further disadvantaged some remote areas as
it was impossible for the government to reach them. The Emergency Development plan was
developed which sought to expand rural primary education. It was funded an amount of K426,
000 while K200, 000 was for additional places to enroll children in urban schools. Political will

and support helped to marshal members of the public to contribute their voluntary efforts by
participating in self-help schemes in rural areas. They built classrooms and teachers houses
while the government provided materials that were not locally available such as cement,
galvanised iron sheets, steel windows and doors frames and school furniture. Through this
government initiative 200 primary additional streams were made available in January 1965. The
campaign was not as successful in urban centres because of the different culture of workers.
Instead of voluntary labour, parents contributed funds. By the end of the year 1965, 144 more
classrooms were built.
Thirdly, there was a segregated education system which favoured Europeans against Africans.
The Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) had to dismantle the racist system of
education and develop an education system that would provide equal opportunities to all
Zambians regardless of race, tribe or religious affiliation. In dismantling this problem, the
government integrated the two racially education systems into one and encouraged girl/woman
education.
Fourthly, most of the Zambian citizens were so poor that paying for a childs tuition fees was
almost a night mere. Kelly (1992) says, poverty has stricken the education system in most
African countries as most pupils and teachers cannot find the basic need they deserve. This
hindered many children as their parents were unable to send them to school. In addition to this,
there was also a hindrance in child progression from Grade One to Seven as they were subjected
to promotion examinations for them to qualify to Grade Five. In trying to widen access to
schools by every Zambian, the government scrapped school fees and removed the promotion
examinations to Grade Five, which resulted into free education and automatic progression from
Grade 1 to 7 (Mwanakatwe, 1974).
Furthermore, the issue of distance and inaccessibility of some remote areas has significantly
hindered education delivery from independency to date. Remote areas like Shangombo and some
parts of North-Western Province are still inaccessible to this day. The government has decided to
involve everyone by creating community based schools so that communities would work in
partnership with government. The government where possible provides government teachers and
where impossible allows communities to employ from among themselves. After some time when
the government has enough funds to elevate the school, it takes the school organization and

funding by converting the school into a government one. For instance in my case before I was
formally deployed by the government, I taught at James Siachitema Primary school which later
got converted to a government school some few years after I had left. In so doing, the
government has allowed communities to extend access to school for any child as it has become
easy to set up a school based on community values.

In addition to the problems stated above, some citizens especially the old generation are resistant
to change and over cautious and afraid of spending financial resources. As a result there has been
lack of consensus over certain important issues resulting in delay to implement. The government
has since independence pushed a slogan that children are future leaders which has forced the old
resistant generation to come down and let the young ones carry it on.
In conclusion, it is my view that government efforts should continue. The hard work exhibited by
the government since independence in promoting education despite a number of setbacks here
and there is so great. I strongly believe that despite still having the rural urban drift for both
school students and teaching staff, as long as infrastructure roads, electricity, road network,
provision of sufficient clean water and good housing as well as good working conditions are
government priorities one day the situation will be stable in the Zambian Education System.
Otherwise the objective of government would remain unattainable. It is my hope that it will not
be the case and that the struggle for better education facilities continues unabated.

REFERENCES
Carmody, B. (2004). Evolution of education in Zambia . Lusaka : Book world.
GRZ, 1992, Focus on Learning: Strategies for the Development of School Education in Zambia.
MoE
https://sitwe.wordpress.com/, http://sitwe.blog.com/, http://bmsitwe.blog.com
Kelly, M.J. (1999). Origin and Development of Education in Zambia , Lusaka : Image Publishers
Limited.
Kelly M. J (1992). Education in a Declining Economy. Washington Dc: world Bank.
Mwanakatwe M.J. (1974). The growth of Education in Zambia Since Independence, Lusaka :
Oxford UNZA Press.
Ocitti, J.P (1973). African Indigenous education. Nairobi : East Africa Literature Bureau
J M Mwanakatwe (1974) The growth of education in Zambia since independence OUP, 2 Former
Zambian Republican President: Foreword to Growth of Education in Zambia since
Independence by J M Mwanakatwe. Revised Edition