INDEPENDENT Nkana Member of Parliament Binwell Mpundu says Constituency Development Fund (CDF) provides an opportunity for elected leaders to implement school construction projects to help address the shortage of classroom space created by Government’s free education policy.
Mr Mpundu said the free education policy had created a scramble for school places among citizens, forcing school authorities to over enroll pupils.
He was concerned that there were as many as 170 pupils in one session with most of them sitting on the floor.
Mr Mpundu, however, said CDF had created an opportunity for elected leaders such as MPs and councillors to address the shortage of classroom space and scarcity of desks.
Mr Mpundu, who is former Kitwe district commissioner, was speaking at the weekend when he visited Kamakonde Primary School to handover a CDF project to a contractor engaged to construct a classroom block.
“The school currently has inadequate classrooms and desks to an extent that some classes have 170 pupils packed in one session, some of whom are sitting on the floor. The picture indicates two scenarios, namely that free education has created a scramble for the limited spaces available and schools have over enrolled because the policy now dictates that each child must have a chance to get into school with minimal financial burdens.
“On the other hand, CDF creates an opportunity for us to address this inadequacy in classroom spaces,’’ Mr Mpundu said
He said the handover ceremony of the project site to the contractor was a milestone in addressing the challenges at a school that has only four classrooms.
Mr Mpundu said the project would result in the addition of five classrooms to the school infrastructure.
Kamakonde ward councillor Christopher Chileshe said the new dawn administration had invested huge sums of money in infrastructure development like construction of schools and extension of existing one, training youths in various skills using CDF and offering government scholarships to vulnerable learners.
“The successful implementation of the Free Education policy is benefiting many children across the country and an appeal is being made to all parents to enroll their children in public schools, which are free from grade one to 12.
“The increased CDF , which has components of community projects, empowerment and scholarships is transforming lives, development is being taken to all parts of the country at the same time,’’ Mr Chileshe said.
He catalogued notable achievements scored by the new dawn administration as increased beneficiaries and allocation to social cash, increased empowerment opportunities, robust economic growth (2.8 percent), bringing down inflation from 24% to 9.8% and media freedom. Other achievements include ending caderism and the fight against corruption.
Mr Chileshe also advised various organisations in Kamakonde ward to take advantage of the increased CDF allocation to come up with projects and small businesses that could help to sustain families.
He said the increased CDF allocation was intended to empower people in various communities for them to become self-sustaining through cooperatives.
Mr Chileshe urged residents, especially orphanages to take advantage of the increased CDF allocation to come up with viable projects that can support vulnerable families.
