IT is asinine to suggest that former President Edgar Lungu has advocated for the wholesale abolition of free education, when he is himself a product of free education.
It is understandable that Mr. Thabo Kawana, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Media would wish to take the remarks by the former President out of context for political benefit, when it is a known fact that the pupil to teacher ratio is a factor in quality education.
This is a reality that underlines class sizes. It is not something that Mr. Lungu is creating.
It is something this government is striving to address by employing more teachers and the ratio currently is not good. But there is no money for the government to employ as many teachers as it would desire and balance off the current teacher to pupil ratio that is compromising the quality of education. Dr Lungu was talking beyond ratio. He was talking quality of education.
Anybody who grew up in the Kaunda era benefitted from true free education which included free books, free uniforms and indeed no boarding fees.
The present free education is far from what was envisaged by Dr. Kaunda and his colleagues. Parents still have to foot the bill for a number of requirements and indeed even under Dr. Kaunda a number of pupils could still not go to school because they could not afford transport or other requirements.
It is against this background that the remarks by former President Lungu should be evaluated. In the video that has gone viral, Mr Lungu is clearly heard to state that the current free education policy needed to be re-looked at in view of the large classes which were impeding effective pupil to teacher ratios, a well-known principle in education.
He is heard stating that: “There has been no free education in Zambia under UPND. There has been a dilution of free education, there is no quality education now and there can’t be quality education if one teacher has to take on 300 pupils, examine 300 pupils and expect good results,” said former President Lungu.
Dr Lungu added that if he was to return to power, he would also revive the ailing health and agriculture sector and make them viable again.
Judging from the orchestrated condemnation of the statement, it is clear that a propaganda avenue has been opened to demonize well-intentioned sentiments by the former President who obviously was reliving the orderly classrooms under the Kaunda era, when classes had no more than 45 pupils.
It is clear that those with ill intentions on the former President will use the out of context caption of his speech which are being used to ensure that they dent his image so that Zambians can lose hope and faith in him.
In essence Dr Lungu was talking about enhancing the quality of education rather than hindering school enrolment which by all accounts has mushroomed since the pronouncement of the policy.
Beyond the classroom it should also be realized that education is not simply learning to read and write, it is also intended to prepare leaners for life after school. This is a fact that is being considered in the new curriculum intended to provide a two tier learning programme that includes vocations and post academia.
Packing overcrowded classes with pupils who end up on the streets because they have not gained such skills and acumen to fend for themselves is certainly not a very productive use of resources.
Education, according to Dr Lungu must provide quality that ensures post-graduation acumen to enable them fend for themselves.
This is hardly advocating for the abolition of free education. It is advocating for quality in the same manner that the Government is seeking to implement reforms.
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