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Govt to rehabilitate CDSSs
By
Joseph Langa - 25-06-2002 |
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Government is intending to borrow approximately US$19.5 million from the African Development Bank (ADB) to improve community day secondary schools (CDSSs) across the country.
Deputy Finance and Economic Planning Minister Phillip Bwanali said in Parliament last Thursday the project is expected to improve quality and equity of secondary education offered in community day secondary schools in the country.
He said under the project, 40 community day secondary schools in the country will be rehabilitated.
Bwanali said the project aims to upgrade the CDSSs to minimum standards set by government, saying most schools are currently dilapidated, overcrowded and lack teaching materials, among others.
“The major component of the project includes infrastructure development, education material provision, teacher education development and capacity building for school management,” he said.
According to Bwanali, the project will be distributed throughout the country with priority given to rural areas, saying the actual schools to benefit will be determined on the basis of the outcome of the school mapping survey government carried out recently.
He observed that the project is expected to develop the country economically since education is the major key for development and said: “We cannot talk of alleviating poverty if our human resource is not educated.”
Bwanali said the loan, if authorised by members of parliament, will be repaid over a period of 40 years after a 10-year grace period at one percent interest rate per annum in the first 10 years and three percent thereafter.
Both MCP and Aford finance spokespersons, Louis Chimango and Khwauli Msiska, respectively, supported the bill.
“This investment is worthwhile. Investment in education is the surest way to combat poverty,” said Chimango.
On his part, Msiska said the project has come at the right time to fill the gap left by Danish Agency for International Development (Danida) which, he said, was the main donor for the education sector before they pulled out recently.
However, the two opposition representatives complained about unfair distribution of school projects in the country.
“If government will not address equity in education distribution then you will not serve this country properly,” Chimango said. |
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