‘Imprisoned’ kids to have own schools – ZCS

Thu, 13 Jul 2017 11:02:29 +0000

By FLAVIOR CHISHALA

CONSTRUCTION of schools for children born in prisons around the country is underway,  the  Zambia Correctional Service (ZCS) has revealed.

ZCS head of public relations Margaret Nawa said the institution had 82 circumstantial children across the country out of which 46 are boys while 36 are girls.

Ms Nawa said in an interview yesterday that the children were allowed to remain with their mothers in prison for a period of two years after which they were released to relatives and social welfare organizations.

She said the prisons had for a long time now improvised rooms for circumstantial children’s educational needs hence the need to put up structures that would enhance their educational needs.

She said one complete structure is at Lusaka Central while the structures in Mwembeshi were still being worked on.

Ms Nawa said the population of children receiving education kept changing as it dependended on how long the mother would remain incarcerated.

“We care about the needs of children born in prison that is why we want to build permanent school structures for them,” Ms Nawa said.

Ms Nawa said although the prison conditions were not conducive, the children enjoyed good health and were well cared for.

She said that while the institution was in the transition of being revamped it was imperative that every member involved was incorporated in the programme.

And Ms Nawa commended social welfare organizations for supporting the children in various ways.

She said the institution did not restrict any mothers who wished to keep their children even after the age of two until such a time when they were ready to let go of them.

She said the institution would also continue to protect the rights of circumstantial children because despite being in prison they were innocent.