Hidden face in free primary education

ANGELINA Tembo, 69, with her grandson Davey

--Poverty is a driving factor in rural areas 

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka

ANGELINA Tembo, 69, of Kapila village in Chibombo district recalls how she battled for three years to ensure that one of her four orphaned grand-children, a girl, reached grade eight.
The dream was short-lived; in 2012, she fell pregnant and dropped out of school in her seventh grade.
A year later, she was married.
It is Ms Tembo who forced her into marriage.
“I regret allowing her to go into marriage because she is not happily married. She has marital disputes more frequently than expected. Now she has two children and their living conditions are getting worse. She fends for the children more than her husband,” Ms Tembo says.
Ms Tembo’s four grand-daughters relocated to the village in 2010 when their single mother passed on.
Since then, life has never been easy.
It was done due to the harsh living conditions at the village that she received money and allowed her grade seven daughter to get married.
“I tried my best then to meet her school needs like pencils and books, but at times, it was a challenge because I had to take care of the other three children too,” she says.
The struggle has continued, and it is four years now.
She still has difficulties providing school requirements for other three grand-children. In fact, the three are not even in school currently, and there is little she can do about the scenario.
This is in the midst of free primary school education.
“I personally appreciate the provision of free primary education but for us in rural areas, it is still a challenge to get our children into school because of other requirements like uniforms, books, school bags, shoes and pencils,” Ms Tembo says.
“Here in Kapila village, most children of school-going age are not attending school regularly all because of these requirements.”
Put clearly, the high poverty levels in rural areas are contributing to the number of children not attending school.
For Ms Tembo, she knows that education can make a difference in one’s life particularly for the poor and vulnerable. That is why she wants further interventions to enable children stay in school.
“Unless poverty levels are reduced in rural areas, the dream of education for all will not be achieved because of the different barriers that hinder the equal access to education,” she says.
It is 15 years ago since Zambia joined the international community in making a commitment to provide universal primary school education for all children.
While considerable progress has been made, today there are still over 350,000 primary school aged children out of school.
Data published by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) last year showed that there are 150,141 are girls and 200,048 are boys who are out of school.
In 2015, the number of children out of school was over 500,000 of which 242,616 were boys and 261,094 were girls. 
Chibombo, a district sandwiched by Kabwe and Lusaka, was the hub for Kabwe rural under the UNIP government’s decentralisation policy, but it is only now that it is beginning to develop.
Its district commissioner acknowledges that Government has indeed continued to face challenges in ensuring that free access to education meets its intended objectives.
Barnabas Musopelo says while making access to education possible, lack of certain school requirements has contributed to most children not attending school.
“Poverty is a major barrier. It forces children to become involved in raising money for their homes when they are supposed to be in school,” Mr Musopelo says.
“Other barriers such as the lack of books, uniforms and shoes, teenage pregnancy, child marriages and child labour are also contributing to low access.”
Mr Musopelo acknowledges that there can be no greater investment in developing a community than that of educating its children.
“We will continue to partner with organisations that are taking practical steps to rescue the children from harmful labour practices and child marriages by directly supporting children to go back to school and stay in school,” he says.
Mr Musopelo says Government has demonstrated its willingness to not only make primary education free but also allow non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to also play their part.
Prior to 2015, Education for All (EFA), a global movement led by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015 and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), gave developing countries an incentive to attain universal primary education (UPE) through accelerated and scaled strategies and one of them was the abolition of primary tuition fees.
Abolishing tuition fees is one such strategy, which is seen as a measure to improve enrolment and participation rates.
Tuition fees and other private costs of schooling are viewed as a barrier to accessing and completing primary education. 
To cushion the burden on school requirements, Youth First Development (YFD) launched an initiative called the Stay in School Programme, which is aimed at helping children who have lost hope on school get a second chance in life by providing school fees and other basic school requirements.
YFD board chairperson, Cooper Chibomba notes that in advancing the education of children, his organisation is committed to working closely with the government in ensuring that children access education and to partner with every school to track the progress of children in their education.
“We are also entering into an agreement with parents to ensure that no child is left behind. We commend the government for making primary education free. This is a very progressive move and we know that the government means well,” Mr Chibomba says.
But as Ms Tembo’s scenario shows, mere access to schooling by abolishing tuition fees is not enough. Provision of other basic school requirements like books, uniforms and other requirements can help keep children in school. PUBLISHED ON MARCH 1, 2017.