FREE EDUCATION IN ZAMBIA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS: THE IMPERATIVE OF EDUCATING THE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY GENERATION.

By PROFESSOR GEOFFREY LUNGWANGWA

INTRODUCTION

LISTENING to the statements of President Hakainde Hichilema, one gets the view that his mind, heart and soul is in the direction of free education for the young people in Zambia. This is his vision for education.
The challenge to all those in the education sector is how to assist the President realise this vision. It should be stated from the outset that other leaders on the African continent with the heart for their people are moving in the direction of free education.
Kenya and Ghana stand out as examples of countries that have taken the path of free education for their young people. The challenge for Zambia is how to make the President’s wish and will of free education for the young people a reality.
This article focuses more on the question of why it is necessary that education be free in Zambia’s public schools. The point of departure is to agree that education in public schools should indeed be free because it is a necessary condition of preparing the citizens of the digital technology society.
To do this requires reframing schools beyond their current appearances. Policy makers and technocrats in the education sector have an onerous task of coming up with innovations that will transform public schools to pave way for free education to be a reality.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The free education debate is not new. The UNIP manifesto prior to the elections that led to the country’s independence advocated for a compulsory free education in primary and secondary schools.
True to the intentions of the nationalist leaders, education in public schools after independence was not compulsory but it was free of direct cost to the learners. The generation of school going children of the post-independence era, like myself, can recall that the UNIP government met the cost of virtually all the education requisities needed by primary and secondary school children including pens, pencils, rubbers, exercise

books, mathematical sets, food, bedding and so on. There were no demands of PTA funds at the time.
Those who proceeded to higher education institutions had similar experiences as noted in an earlier article. Post-independence education in the 1960s and 1970s was free in the true sense of the word.

Students of Zambia’s education policy can recall that from the mid1970s, a rethinking about the direction of education took place. The education reforms of 1976 to 1977 focused on Education for All and this was conceived in terms of nine years of basic education for every child which government would strive to meet.

Significant shifts in the way education was funded took place in the 1980s and 1990s. The demands this time as

government funding to education dwindled was for parental contributions to the education costs of their children. PTA funds and boarding secondary school fees became an established norm. The government withdrew support for requisities like exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, rubbers, bedding etc.

Parents and guardians of schoolgoing children were expected to meet the education requirements of their children. Cost sharing in education provision was established as the new mode of funding education.

There are many factors that led to this change in education financing and the major ones being the economic problems the country was in, the increasing numbers of school age children which raised the cost of education in the national budget and the Structural Adjustment Programme conditionalities
accepted by the government.

The 1996 Education Policy (Educating Our Future) was anchored more on partnership in education provision.

The MMD government under the late President Levy Mwanawasa revisited the concept of free education and declared that primary education from Grade 1 to 7 should be free while the other levels of education remain in the cost sharing mode with bursaries for needy children especially girls at the secondary school level. This policy direction in education financing remained unchanged under the PF leadership.

The UPND government is revisiting the policy of free education and wants it to be a reality for the young children. The free education debate has been brought to the table. The challenge for the citizens is to contribute to this debate with a mindset that focuses on why and how can this be done.

This article is a contribution to the debate focusing on public primary and secondary schools. The gist of the argument is that free education in public schools is imperative given the dictates of the digital technology society and the inevitability of educating the digital technology generation citizens of today and the future.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY GENERATION

Since the dawn of the internet revolution in the early 1990s children born hence then can be defined as the digital technology generation. They live in a challenging and complex environment in which their lives are increasingly being shaped by the ever changing digital technology their parents and teachers may not be adequately prepared.
This therefore calls for rethinking of how education in schools is to be organised and funded. The author presents the view that the challenges faced by the digital technology generation make it imperative that education in public schools be free.
The article goes beyond the meritocratic conception of schools and education in general. For the debate on free education to be more meaningful the salient questions that ought to be answered are:

• What kind of children are we educating? What kind of society are we educating children for?
• What pressing goal should education meet?
• Why should every child receive that education free?
  These questions transcend beyond the meritocratic view of education. Answers to the questions bring to the fore a paradigm shift in education policy.
  Zambia like many other countries has entered a new development trajectory with digital technology at the centre of transforming peoples’ lives. This calls for a rethinking about the education/society interface and how education for the young children is to be provided.

BEYOND MERITOCRACY

Education in its organised structured form has two distinctive characteristics. First, while it retains its permanent attributes it constantly changes, adapting itself to new demands and new circumstances. Second, the priority given to education especially in national budgets largely depends on the premium i.e value, placed

on it by the political leadership. These two characteristics are interlinked and inter related.
A meaningful debate on whether education at primary and secondary levels should be free or not depends on how well the two characteristics of education are understood and appreciated. Failure to pay careful understanding of the two characteristics of education the debate on free education becomes mere noise founded on emotional sentimentalism.

The first characteristic of education calls for careful attention to the children and the environment that they live in and the factors that shape their lives now and in future. This is the question of the generation of children education is targeted at. What are the circumstances that are shaping their lives now and in future? How is education to be organised to meaningfully respond to their lives as individuals and as a generation? How is this education in the public schools to be funded? Who should meet the cost?

Historical experience in Zambia show that education has been evolving along the lines of: removing rampant illiteracy, racial segregation, labour market demands and rising unemployment levels.
What has been taken for granted is that primary and secondary education is a public good that is valuable for all children. This is indeed true and there cannot be protracted debate on it. Education as a public good is what led to the consensus of the United Nations as far back as 1948 that Education is a Human Right.

The focus of the policy makers and technocrats implementing policies has been on how to make education more accessible, more equitable, more efficient, more relevant and of better quality. Concentration has largely been on expansion of the school system, training and deployment of more teachers, review of the curriculum, provision of education materials, monitoring the quality of teaching and learning and assessment of learning achievements.
This is a long established tradition of education provision founded on meritocratic conception of society. It’s origin is rooted in the notion of society as a meritocracy and education is the instrument of merit awards. Education is the ladder that sorts out the brightest and the best as Plato’s book, The Republic, put it.
This is the established western view of education which Zambia and many other former colonial dependencies inherited. The question of what type of generation of children is the school system serving is rarely asked. Schooling for all children is taken as good and that it should be a right for all children.

The second characteristic of education arises out of the value attached to it by the decision makers namely the political leaders. Political leaders’ view of education is equally founded on the meritocracy conception of society. Education is the sorting machine that prepares children for various opportunities in the labour market and as active participants in a modern society. Those who are not able to climb up to the top of the ladder of the education system are considered fitted for skilled and semi skilled training programmes and enters the

labour market based on the training programmes received. The education reforms centred on multitrack curriculum including the establishment of skills training centres and institutions arise from the meritocratic view of the education society relationship.

The weakness of the meritocratic model is that it focuses more on children as competing individuals and not as a generation citizens who should be enabled to live in clearly defined society. The dictates of the digital technology era we are in requires that education meets the needs of the digital technology generation.
To this effect, public primary and secondary schools should be free because they are the foundation of developing the digital technology generation that is and will be active citizens of the digital technology society.

THE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY

The fact that the world has now entered the Fourth Industrial Revolution is no longer a debatable issue. This is the reality in which we live. The First Industrial Revolution was the shift from agrarian production with handicrafts to mechanical production using water and steam power. The Second Industrial Revolution was the ushering in of mass production using fuel and electric power.

The Second Industrial Revolution brought in the assembly line factory model of production. This was the beginning of manufacturing industries. For Africa the Second Industrial Revolution saw the colonisation of the continent as the European countries wanted raw materials for the new industries. Classrooms in schools were organised along the factory assembly line model.

The Third Industrial Revolution is the shift from mechanical and analogue electronic technology to computer and automation. This was the period of computer programming logic in operations.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about the Internet of Things (IOT). It is the trend towards the robotic process automation, convergence or integration of data using Smart Information Technologies, widespread usage of cyber-physical space and cloud computing. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the age of efficient and effective data management and easy access to available information. The world has truly entered the Information Age through the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Connectivity through network systems is the nature of life in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The reality now is that with proper connection to a network system it is possible to communicate with anybody anywhere in the world.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution has redefined society to mean a digital society. In simple terms a digital society is an Information Communication Technology dependent society. It is a society in which digital technologies are at the centre of the lives of individuals whether at home, school, work, recreation or business.
This is a society where digital technology is used to respond to the challenges of individuals, communities, institutions and society in general. In a digital technology society various human activities whether information exchange and communication, economic, social, educational, political or cultural are moving towards being digital technology driven.
This is evidenced by terms like e-government, e- commerce, e-learning, e-banking among others. Policy makers are confronted with the challenging task of realigning various activities to meet the dictates of electronic technology operations.

The challenge for Zambia is that communities are at different levels of development. Most of the rural communities are still at the agrarian level using handicrafts. The hoe is still the dominant tool in agricultural production. The penetration of digital technology in the wider population and educational

institutions is still low.

Although Zambia has transited from analogue to digital technology most offices are still organised in the traditional mode with officers occupying their own individual offices with secretaries serving them. In the Internet of Things offices are open spaces where individuals work online through connectedness in the cyber space.

Although internet connectivity is still low access to information using mobile technologies is fast gaining ground especially among the young population. The young Zambia population is rapidly being interconnected. Mobile technology is exponentially gaining ground thereby rapidly transforming the way people especially the young generation communicate.
It is not an over exaggeration to state that many young people in Zambia like elsewhere in other parts of the world have adapted or can easily adapt to the use of digital technologies.
In other words it can be stated that like other young people in other parts of the world, the young generation in Zambia is digital technology ready. What the young minds need are programmes or opportunities that can usher them into digital technologies and their effective use can spread like world fire.
For Zambia therefore, digital migration is not just about technological transition. Rather, and probably the most important point, it is about preparing and quickly developing a DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY GENERATION. This is where schools whether public or private have a key role to play. The first challenge of schools both primary and secondary is to contribute to the development of children so that they become effective citizens of the digital technology society.
Development of digital literacy in all children is therefore a necessary responsibility of all schools. This should be a major driving force in education policy development today.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY LITERACY

Because of the centrality of digital communication technology in everyday life in the digital technology society, digital technology literacy is necessary to all individuals. Individuals must have the ability to process information through digital technology if they are to effectively manage their lives. Digital technology literacy refers to the knowledge, skills and competences individuals must have to use digital electronic technologies.
Digital technology literacy skills and competences should enable them to access technological platforms to produce, evaluate and utilise information. There are many examples which can help to illustrate this point.
For example, application for title deeds to land, application for admission to institutions, banking transactions, payments for road licences, electricity, and water, booking for flights, application for visas, application for employment and so on are increasingly electronic driven.
As the e-government system takes root, most services provided by government departments to citizens will be delivered electronically. The challenge is how to empower citizens with digital knowledge and skills so that they become effective citizens of the digitalising society.
There is no better way of doing this in a country like Zambia than through schools. No matter how highly educated one is, lacking or being deficient in digital technology knowledge, skills and competences makes one functionally illiterate in a digitalising society.
In other words digital technology literacy is a necessity in the ever changing digital technology society. This is the new paradigm of society Zambia has entered.

SCHOOLS FOR A DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY

Digital migration should be about empowering the digital technology generation with digital skills competences and knowledge to be effective citizens of a digitalising society.

The challenge for Zambia is how to quickly come up with policies, plans, programmes, and projects that can rapidly lead to the development of the digital technology generation. Schools are the starting poiint because they are directly responsible for the digital technology generation. This should involve the following:

1. Within the school age population of the digital technology generation that is, 7 to 18 year old, what proportion has access to digital technology? How is this access differentiated between boys and girls, within schools in urban areas, and between schools in the urban areas and those in the rural areas?
2. How equipped are the schools in digital technology terms? That is do the children and teachers have access to digital technology like computers or iPads?
3. What is the digital technology literacy level among the pupils and the teachers?
4. Are the schools connected to the power grid or other sources of energy?
5. Is there any internet network connectivity in the school and how reliable is it?
6. Does the school follow any digital technology curriculum and is it relevant to the dynamic changes of the digital technology environment?
7. Have the teachers received any formal training in digital technology use?
   8.What kind of programmes are necessary to make teachers proficient in digital technology and how much will they cost?
8. How many tablets are needed to make a one off supply to all school going children and how much will it cost?
9. How much will it cost to supply every grade one child with a tablet each year for five years?
   These questions are important in developing a digital technology generation and a digitalised society and there is need for honest answers to them. The Education Ministry needs a strong research unit to provide up to date information on these and other questions to guide policy direction and monitor progress.

There are many advantages that arise from focusing attention on developing the digital technology generation in Zambia. First, it is the quickest way of bringing about widespread adaptation to digital technology applications in the country.

Second, while the traditional method of learning is about memorisation and learning from teachers and books, digital technology applications in education is about freedom of enquiry, self-propelled learning, problem-solving learning, group and collaborative learning and critical and creative thinking.

Third developing the digital technology generation will be a preparation for an aggressive onslaught on some of the vexing problems facing the country namely poverty, unemployment, disease, ignorance, rural urban gap, gender disparities among others.
If well prepared, the digital technology generation can use the power of information to drive Zambia’s socio-economic transformation and bring about significant improvements in the quality of life of the people.

Fourth, a focus on developing the digital technology generation is the quickest way of narrowing the digital divide between the well to do and poor families and between the urban and rural areas.

Fifth it is through developing digital technology generation that sustainable development can be realistically achieved.
Sixth. Developing the digital technology generation is the fastest way of bringing the citizens in the much talked about knowledge economy.

Seventh. Effective digital technology knowledge has the potential of making the school leavers admitted in higher education institutions effective learners.

Eighth. Digital technology literacy will be an effective way of narrowing the gap between leaders and the citizens. For example people in a constituency can communicate with their representatives in Parliament at any time.
Ninth. Digital technology literacy can effectively contribute to the development of entrepreneurship among the young people leaving schools.
The precondition for the development of the digital technology generation is a mindset change among political leaders and the general populace. The leadership has to appreciate and understand that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is here and now. Zambia like other countries in the world is in the information age which is driven by the Information Communication Technologies.

The implication of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the lives of the people and development in general has to be understood and confronted by the leaders. More importantly, political leaders have to set their development priorities right and give higher priority to the development of the digital technology generation which schools can do.

The importance and necessity of developing the digital technology generation which eventually will lead to a digitalised society entails that education in primary and secondary schools should be free. The government should find the necessary resources to meet the need for developing the digital technology generation which is a precondition for a digitalised society.
The guiding principle in this endeavour hard as it may be is that: ANYTHING WHICH IS WITHIN THE REACH OF HUMAN IMAGINATION IS POSSIBLE

TO ACHIEVE.

Free education for the digital technology generation can be approached in tranches. Schools in rural areas and those in high density urban settlements can be targeted first. This could involve ensuring that children in these schools are supplied with digital technology.
Teachers in these schools should be accorded priority in digital technology professional improvement in-service courses. Internet connectivity through communication towers for unserved and underserved areas can be expedited.
The Rural Electrification Authority should swing into action to supply power to schools that have no energy connection. Children in schools located in under-privileged areas should begin to see and feel a big difference in the way they are taught and the

facilities they are given.
The next tranche should be those schools in relatively well off neighbourhoods. These are schools in areas like Woodlands or Kabulonga in Lusaka. Grant-aided schools which charge fees should be in the last tranche. Private schools are run on business lines and they not form part of this discussion.
Other measures that should be taken into account include recruitment of more teachers, construction of more classrooms, and re-organisation of the school calender. Affordable low hanging satellites are now available.
The government can explore the possibility of procuring these satellites and deploy them in space to make internet connectivity widely available everywhere in the country.

CONCLUSION

Education in Zambia’s public schools should be free because it is imperative that all young people who are the digital technology generation be adequately prepared to take their place as citizens of the digital technology society.
Digital technology knowledge, skills and competences are necessary tools of one’s daily life in a digital technology society. The young people of today and the future are the citizens of the ever changing digital technology society. They are the digital technology generation and they need digital technology literacy.
A focus on free education for a digital technology generation will not only bring about the digital technology society but it will assist in solving the digital technology divide between the rural and urban areas and between the rich and the poor segments of society. Zambia stands to benefit immensely socially, economically, politically and culturally from free education in public schools for its digital technology generation. The cost will initially be high but the benefits will by far outweigh the cost.